New Dawn
by Black Wren Sky
Summary: The year is 5082 postapocalypse. Humans rule and demons hide in the shadows in fear. The world is in ruins. Into this world Sesshomaru, sealed away millennia earlier, is finally freed. Alone in a world no longer familiar he must find a way to survive
1. Crystal Clear Defeat

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime and manga series "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all Original Characters, though.

**Prologue: Crystal Clear Defeat**

Sesshomaru was thrown backwards as Tokijin flew from his hand. His armor shattered under the blow and his head swam. He landed on his back; he tried to get up to face his opponent but his movements were agonizingly slow.

The demon dog had only just managed to sit up before a heartless knee slammed into his face. He was knocked backwards a few more feet. Sesshomaru lay there trying to find his wits when a bare foot drove its heel into his diaphragm. The air rushed out of his lungs.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" cried a woman from nearby.

'Rin,' he thought, 'stay where you are.' With a surge of energy he threw off the offending foot and staggered to his feet.

"Still have some fight left in you after all, Lord Sesshomaru," sneered the attacking demon. The demon looked human but stank of demonic powers. Unfortunately, Sesshomaru had no idea what kind of demon he was and, thus, kept getting surprised by him.

Breathing heavily, the dog demon looked his opponent over. The demon stood there, arrogance reeking from every fiber of his being. The demon was standing almost casual and Sesshomaru could see that his guard was relaxed.

'Why?' he wondered. 'Is he really so foolish or is this a trap?' His experience with the hanyou, Naraku, had taught him not all signs of weakness were weaknesses. Naraku had once allowed Sesshomaru to seriously injure him in order to absorb the dog demon into his body. Sesshomaru had barely escaped that trap. Was this another one?

"It's over Lord Sesshomaru," said the demon. "Why don't you make things easier and die like a good little dog?" Sesshomaru growled in his throat but didn't charge, he wasn't reckless like his half-brother, Inuyasha.

"If you want to do it the hard way, Lord Sesshomaru, that's fine," said the demon as an evil smile split his face. He charged forward and slashed at the dog demon. Sesshomaru barely dodged in time.

"You certainly are a glutton for punishment, Lord Sesshomaru," laughed the demon. Sesshomaru said nothing as he swung his right hand around calling up his energy whip. The whip wrapped around the blade and he yanked it from his opponent's hand. The demon's free hand raked its claws across Sesshomaru's face.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" screamed Rin.

"Maybe I'll have her after I've killed you," the demon snickered. Sesshomaru snarled and drove his left hand into the demon's chest. It was like stabbing mud.

"What?" gasped the dog demon as he tried to pull his hand free. The demon laughed. 'It is a trap!' thought Sesshomaru. Fear began to claw its way into his heart.

"I have you now and you shall never escape!" cried the demon triumphantly. A clear fluid like substance shot from the wound and began to engulf him. It flowed down and around his body. Sesshomaru struggled to escape, but the demon held him fast. When the fluid touched the ground it hardened. As the fluid flowed over the hardened parts it too solidified. He was slowly being encased in clear crystal. The dog demon twisted about in a desperate attempt to break free, but his feet were now frozen inside the crystal.

"Release Lord Sesshomaru at once!" yelled Rin. Both turned to see the young woman had picked up the demon's sword and was charging him.

"Rin, no!" shouted Sesshomaru as the demon casually raised his hand. His nails shot out and impaled the young woman stopping her in her tracks.

"She actually thought she could hit me?" said the demon. His extended nails shrank back to their normal size. "Humans are such foolish creatures."

"Rin," gasped Sesshomaru in disbelief.

"Lord Sesshomaru," whispered Rin as she toppled forward. She was dead before she hit the ground.

"You bastard!" he shouted at his enemy and slashed with his claws at the demon's face. The demon shrieked in pain for the first time since the battle started. He held a hand to his wounded face and glared with his remaining eye at Sesshomaru.

'His head is his weakness?' wondered Sesshomaru. He prepared to strike again, but his arm suddenly wouldn't move. He looked down and saw the elbow was caught in the crystal that had grown beyond his waist. It was growing much faster now.

He looked at his enemy that was now smiling again his expression triumphant.

"One day I'll get out of this and then your head will be mine!" swore Sesshomaru; the crystal now up to his shoulders.

"The crystal is unbreakable; you're never getting out," assured the demon.

As the crystal climbed to his face he let out a howl of rage and anguish and then the crystal swallowed him. The demon backed up freeing Sesshomaru's left hand from his chest. The fluid continued to flow over the crystal until his hand was also swallowed.

The demon sneered at the crystallized Sesshomaru and said to him, "Enjoy your time in Limbo, Sesshomaru, for you'll be spending the rest of eternity there." He laughed as he punched the ground causing a massive tremor. The Earth split open and the crystal fell into the chasm. He struck the side of the chasm and it caved in burying Sesshomaru. The demon walked away laughing.

(End Chapter)

This is for my cousin who wanted me to write a Sesshomaru fanfic. It took some time before I came up with this and it is an idea that is still developing.

It will have nothing to do with my other fanfics so don't compare.

And yes, Sesshy has his left arm back; after all it has been years since the quest for the shards ended. Implied by the full grown Rin.

Constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged.


	2. Crystal in the Reef

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime and manga series, Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all Original Characters in this story.

**Chapter One: The ****Crystal**** in the Reef**

"You ready to dive, Akata?" asked Leon as he adjusted his scuba gear. The couple stood among other divers on the boat's deck. A white canopy was erected over the deck like a tent to protect the passengers from the deadly UV rays. Akata and Leon stood near the dive hatch as they prepared to explore the world under the sea.

"Are you sure there is nothing dangerous here?" asked Akata, her black eyes filled with anxiety.

Leon smiled at her and replied, "I already told you, honey, the kronis and the calamari are deep water predators. We're sitting amidst a reef. The only things we'll have to look out for are the local sharks."

The young woman waved her hand dismissively at his last comment. Sharks had lost their villainous reputation millennia ago. When compared to the monstrosities Norsben had created and unleashed Earth's natural, _normal_ predators just couldn't spark the terror they once had. Sharks didn't sink ships. Still, she couldn't shake her ominous feelings. Something was going to happen.

"Okay, people, are you ready to visit the big blue?" called their guide. A chorus of "yes" rose from the small crowd. "Here are the rules: you are not to go any further than a hundred yards from the boat; you are only to be out for three hours, that is how much air you have in your tanks; you must not surface anywhere but here at the diving hatch, reasons are obvious; and you must not linger in the hatch, people need to be able to enter and exit freely. And remember your monitor will vibrate when their status changes. You know the what the various colors mean, right? Good, any questions? Then let's go!"

Akata adjusted her face mask, looked down at the water with trepidation, then jumped in. As soon as she cleared the hatch Leon jumped in after her and they began exploring the reef together. The young woman's ill feelings were soon forgotten in the wonder of the coral reef. The reef was growing on the remains of buildings. Every now again she glimpsed a steel support poking up from the mass of colorful, immobile animals or an opening where a window had not been covered over. The ruins of Tokyo had become one of nature's most beautiful art works.

As they wandered about the reef Akata noticed something flashing in a small ravine. The sunlight, so benevolent and gorgeous under water, was reflecting off of something. Curious she swam down. As she approached the item she noticed it was embedded into rock, not coral. Akata thought it was glass and her black eyes narrowed as she peered at the thing. The young woman reached a hand out toward the exposed portion. It was hard and smooth beneath her gloved fingers. As she moved her fingers across the surface she noticed a film was being removed by her actions. Carefully she brushed the film from the surface and saw something within the glass.

A pale hand with long nails and two pink stripes on its wrist was inside it. Akata felt her heart begin to beat faster. Hands shaking, she brushed away more of the film and uncovered more of what she now believed to be crystal. She also exposed an arm within a strange red and white sleeve and as she moved up the crystal she revealed more of the strange being within.

A strip of spiked metal wrapped around the being's chest and left shoulder and a white, furry, scarf-like item was wrapped around the being's right shoulder. On the being's hip was a sword; Akata had to think for a moment before she realized what it was. Swords were only seen in museums and as pictures in history books. Terrified by her discover but curious as well she wiped away the film that covered the being's face. Long white hair flowed over his back while pale bangs nearly covered the purple waning crescent moon on his forehead. Twin pink stripes, like on his wrists, graced each cheek.

'He's beautiful,' thought Akata as she stared in awe of the trapped being. 'I wonder who he was.' She placed both hands on the surface as she looked at the strange man. 'Was he a demon? He looks important.' She noted everything about his strange costume. The broad pants that tightened at the ankles, the black shoes he wore, the light armor on his torso, the long furry cloak on his shoulder, the red eye shadow, and the long full sleeves of his shirt. 'But if he was a demon, how could he be important? Who are you?' she wondered.

She felt something respond to that question. Her spiritual powers began to rise within her. It then focused within her hands and flowed into the crystal. 'What's going on?' she thought in alarm. She tried to pull away but her body didn't move. Frozen, Akata stared at the crystal and the trapped demon before her, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would burst from her body. The monitor on her wrist noted her rising blood pressure and racing pulse and signaled the tour boat.

On the boat the man who was monitoring the divers noticed the alert signal. He couldn't imagine what had frightened the diver, but she wasn't calming down. Since the situation was unknown, he did the only thing he could do; he pressed the return signal on the control panel. With the world in the state it was in now, nothing could be dismissed.

Leon felt his monitor vibrate and looked down. The light was red, the signal for all divers to return to the boat immediately. He looked around for Akata but didn't see her. Now he had to make a choice, he could either return to the boat and assume she was already on her way, or he could stay to look for her and risk encountering whatever danger that had caused the unexpected call back. Leon didn't believe his wife would return without him and rose slightly in the water to try to see further around. He noticed a stream of bubbles rising from an opening in the reef and swam toward it.

The returning divers pulled themselves onto the deck as fast as they could and then one of them approached their guide and the monitor who were staring at the panel. "What is going on?" he asked.

"We aren't sure," replied the monitor. "One of the divers' blood pressure and pulse shot up, indicating something had terrified her only her terror seems to be increasing." A murmur began building on the deck. They wondered what had caused their fellow diver to become terrified and hope that it was nothing more serious than a bad scare. Something they could all laugh about later.

Akata felt her monitor vibrate and knew they were being called back to the boat. Panic began to set in; she had no idea she was the cause of the alarm. 'I have to get back to the boat,' her mind screamed but her body remained frozen and her wide eyed gaze locked on the demon in front of her. Her spiritual power continued to pulse from her body into the crystal.

Then his eyes opened and looked straight into hers.

(End Chapter)

Sorry this has taken so long to update. Combination of writer's block, school work, and too many stories kept me from getting to this one.

Warning: If you are one who despises science fiction or just don't like mobile suites do not read beyond the first few chapters.

Just thought I would warn you so I didn't burned by outraged Gundam-haters.

To the rest of you, you'll see the heavy scifi in about two chapters from now, if you weren't getting that vibe from the description of the "present" world.

As always constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged.

(But details would be nice too.)


	3. Shattered Crystal

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all Original Characters in this story.

**Chapter Two: Shattered Crystal**

Warmth was the first thing to return. It crept into every cell; it oozed around every molecule. A heartbeat shattered the stillness of the mind. He became aware but could neither move nor breathe. His immortal heart beat a second time and the crystal loosened from his body. The need to breathe was burning his lungs but still they could not move. Shesshomaru opened his golden eyes to distorted sunlight.

He could see a shadow in front of him that was vaguely human shape, but dismissed it as another matter took precedence over his mind, air! The first tendrils of fear began to worm their way into his oxygen starved brain and, with a great effort, he pushed against the crystal walls surrounding him.

On the verge of passing out Sesshomaru felt the crystal give, then it shattered and vanished with a thunderous explosion. Water splashed against his body at the exact moment his chest expanded. Sea water poured into lungs crying for air. For the first time in his life, Sesshomaru panicked.

Vision darkening, he looked around. The human-like being was swimming up and away from him. Desperate he latched onto its fin. The aquatic being lashed its leg and the fin popped off. Horrified, the dog demon struggled to swim after it, but he was too weak. Sesshomaru felt unconsciousness flood his mind as his vision went black. He slowly sank back down into the crevice; this time he would die.

Akata broke free as the crystal exploded, deafening her. She didn't look back as she swam up and away. A hand gripped her flipper, dragging her back down. Kicking madly to break free, the captured flipper tore from her foot and she shot upward. Clearing the crevice, she turned back to see if the demon was following her. She saw him sinking back into the crevice; his expression was that of the drowned. His hand was outstretched toward her and his eyes seemed to be focusing on her as he drifted toward the bottom. His long white hair flowing above his face glittered in the sun.

The danger past, rationality returned; as did her conscience. Demon or not, she could not let him die. She swam down after him and gripped his wrist. Pulling him toward her as they drifted downward, she yanked free her extra breath mask and stuck the mouth piece into his mouth. She then fastened the strap around his head. The two settled onto the sandy bottom next to her missing flipper. Wrapping her arms around his chest, she held him and prayed that she had been in time.

His body suddenly convulsed and she saw bubbled begin to emerge from the mask. 'Demons are such a hardy breed,' she thought with irony. Assured that he was alive, she reached over and grab her removed flipper. She pushed her foot into it and then stood up. The dead weight of the demon dragged at her shoulders. Akata realized she wouldn't be able to rise above the crevice while trying to support the unconscious man.

'I'll have to lose some weight,' she thought. 'My diving belt will have to go of course, but I don't think that will be enough.' She looked at the demon and eyed his armor, sword, and fur. She sat down on the floor and pulled at the fur wrapped around his shoulder. 'It is a shame to loose it, but it is no doubt already ruined by the salt water.' With a final yank it came free and she shoved it away. The young woman then gripped the sword and felt it pulse in response. Startled, she let go. 'Maybe, I won't have to get rid of it,' she thought after a moment and then turned her attention to the armor. 'Perhaps, this will be enough.'

A hand gripped her arm and she froze. Raising her eyes slowly, she met the demon's golden eyes.

'Uh-oh!'

The first thing Sesshomaru became aware of as he regained consciousness was the delicious taste of air on his tongue; second was of being held by someone. He then felt a tug on his armor and gripped the offending arm as he opened his eyes. He gazed straight into the eyes of that strange aquatic being he had spotted when he had escaped the crystal. The being froze and lifted its head to look at him. In the reflection of its broad black eyes he saw that he had on his face the same thing that was on the being's face. He touched it and saw it was connected to a container strapped to the being's back. It was where his air was coming from.

He looked back at the being and waited for it to give some sign as to its intentions. 'Why, exactly, are you helping me?' The question burned in Sesshomaru's mind but the mask and ocean water made it impossible to speak. A moment past then it pointed a finger up. The dog demon glanced up and saw a sunlit blue surface above them.

Then a shadow crossed the opening.

Another aquatic being began to descend. The one he was attached to looked up, but nothing betrayed alarm in its posture. In fact, it seemed to recognize the other as a friend for it waved a blue hand it. The descending being stopped just short of the two, stabilizing its position by holding on to the rocky outcrop, and then proceeded to trade gestures with its friend. Sesshomaru could tell by the sharp gestures and the speed in which the two snapped them that the newcomer was not happy with his presence. The newcomer wanted the other to abandon the dog demon and return with it to wherever they came from. The other argued against that and requested the newcomer's help in taking him wherever it was it wanted to take him.

'Hopefully to open air,' thought Sesshomaru. Even though he could breathe, being underwater for this long was beginning to affect him; his calm demeanor was cracking. 'Funny, I never knew the ocean could affect me like this. Perhaps it simply because it is not the place I belong in.' The thought gave little comfort to the demon.

He felt a tug on his arm and saw his helper was rising. He stood up as the newcomer landed on the sand in front of them, disapproval radiating from every fiber of its being. The dog demon then noted the human-like shape of the two. The one that was helping him possessed a feminine shape while the newcomer looked male; as least its chest was flatter and it lacked the other's graceful curves. The male aquatic glided closer, having apparently lost the argument, and took hold of his left arm, placing it over his shoulders. The female had already done the same with his right arm. While one arm held onto his the other wrapped around his waist. Sesshomaru would have ordinarily rejected such intimate contact, but his desire to leave the aquatic environment dampened his resentment, as well as his suspicions.

The two dropped weighted belts and then they launched themselves upward. The three rose above the crevice and as soon as they were clear the two began to swim parallel to the surface. The dog demon looked over toward the one he was attached to. Her eyes were focused forward and she didn't seem to notice his suspicion-filled glare.

'Where are they taking me?' he wondered as he looked about. As far as he could see there was no land that rose to break the surface, only the colorful reef met his gaze. 'Where am I? How did I get here?' He then realized his breath rate had increased. He tried to slow it down, but when he took his mind off of it the rate increased again. He looked forward to see where they were going. Slowly appearing out of the blue was the bottom of a boat.

'A boat? But why would they need a boat?' he wondered. He noticed the boat had two parallel bottoms. His escort was aiming for the area in between and to one end. As they closed in on the boat, the male let go and went ahead. Sesshomaru saw the area he was heading toward and noted the ladder that was sticking just below the surface. The male took hold of the ladder and began pulling himself up and out of the water. He had vanished onto the boat by the time the demon and the female grabbed hold of the ladder.

The female grabbed at the mask on his head and loosened it. It made sense to Sesshomaru. They could only go up one-at-a-time and the attachment would only hinder his progress. Sucking in a last breath, he then pulled it off his face and ascended. He gasped as his head and shoulders broke the surface. Pausing for a moment, he sucked in huge gulps of the air he thought he would never taste again. He took another step up and cleared the edge; another step brought him onto the deck. Hundreds of scents assaulted his liberated nose, most of them alien, some familiar, but one caused him to snap his attention forward.

'Humans!' his brain screamed. A whispered whistle sounded followed instantly by a sharp blossoming of pain in the demon's neck. He saw, for a second, a brown skinned human holding a cylindrical device in his hand before everything went black.

The white haired demon had just hit the floor when Akata's head popped above the deck level. She looked at the man then at her husband. Leon refused to meet her gaze. 'Why am I surprised?' she wondered. 'Of course, he went ahead to warn them. Of course, they would react like this.' She pulled herself onto the boat and began removing her gear.

"I had to tell them," he said defensively.

"Did I say anything? No," she replied as she yanked off a flipper.

"The SDF will, no doubt, want to speak with you about this incident," said their guide as he began steering the boat back to the docks. "I think we're all curious to know more about this." He gestured around and Akata could see the expecting faces around her.

'Well, might as well tell them why their trip was cut short,' she sighed. "He was trapped inside a crystal in the reef. My family has produced many priests and priestesses over the generations. I accidentally broke the spell with those powers and, personally, I couldn't stand by and watch him drown." She snapped this last bit over her shoulder before anyone could ask her the heartless question of why she hadn't just left him.

"Fair enough," said the guide as he reached for the radio mike.

"I hope they treat him decently," Akata muttered under her breath as she looked at the stunned demon, four small metal spikes protruded from his neck. 'Well, at least they didn't kill him,' she thought but then wondered if that would be seen as a blessing or a curse to both the demon and the world.

(End Chapter)

A pinch of this a fist of that…

Sorry, but I feel that is what I'm doing with this story. "Inuyasha" is the dominating backdrop, (more like dominating history, snicker), of this story but I took ideas to build this world from Gasaraki, Wolf's Rain, and Dune. (Dune is actually the primary theme of the story, but instead of having Paul, the messiah, we're having Sesshomaru. And while Paul had some prep time to get ready for his "world shift" Sesshomaru wasn't so lucky. I wonder how our favorite dog demon will cope.)


	4. Shattered Reality

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series Inuyasha. I do own all original characters in this book.

**Chapter Three: Shattered Reality**

Sesshomaru was running. He didn't know how he had escaped only that he was out and he wasn't going back. Memories of the past few weeks, (had it really been that short a time?), kept rising in his mind spurring him on to greater speeds.

_He awakened to a bright light shinning in his eyes. He tried to raise a hand to shield his eyes from the offending rays but found he couldn't. Several attempts produced nothing and it wasn't just his arms, his legs, his torso, and even his head weren't able to move._

_He was helpless._

_Fear once again made its presence known as he struggled to free himself. He could feel the restraints that held him immobile. He then registered a beeping sound, a strange tone that sounded harsh to his sensitive ears. It was occurring faster now. Rapid footsteps approached and the dog demon pulled all the harder at his shackles, ignoring the pain in his determination to break free. His nose barely detected anything, having been burned by the chemical scents in the air, but it did tell him the approaching being was human._

_His shackles didn't budge a millimeter. He closed his eyes as he gave one last mighty tug. A popping sound greeted his last effort then he gasped and his pale skin became slick with sweat as pain lanced through his body. He had successfully dislocated his left shoulder. He stopped and panted from his futile effort._

_A shadow crossed his eyes and he opened them. A masked face looked down at him and he stared back in defiance. The human's eyes were the only thing visible through the white cloth that covered head, mouth, and nose. The human said something that meant nothing to Sesshomaru and he remained silent while glaring death at his captor. The human repeated his statement that still was untranslatable and the demon remained silent. The human shook his head and Sesshomaru saw his brown eyes narrow as if frustrated._

_He felt the human begin to probe his injured shoulder with less than gentle fingers and suppressed an urge to wince. He couldn't help the gasp as the joint was roughly pushed back into place. The human said something else; there was more force in the words, more command, but it still meant nothing to the golden-eyed demon. He kept quiet. The human shouted angry words at the snow-haired demon, still nothing. The human said one more thing, it held a threat, the demon could here it in the tone, but still he could not answer. He still had not idea what the human was muttering, maybe if he took off the mask..._

_An unbelievable pain shot through Sesshomaru's body and he screamed. Nothing in his life, nothing, had prepared him for the agony that ripped through his body. Not the time he had his arm cut off during the battle for Tetsusaiga, not the time he had been hit by the Wind Scar while fighting his younger brother, not the time he had been hit by the Dragon Destruction Wave while fighting Shou'unga, nothing had prepared him. For the first time in his life, the Lord of the Western Lands begged for mercy._

_And he got it._

_The pain ended as abruptly as it had begun. The human approached as Sesshomaru gasped, every nerve tingling from the shock. He looked down at the demon and asked a question, Sesshomaru could hear the smugness in his speech. He didn't care, he now knew what the human was capable of, that still didn't change the fact he couldn't understand a word the human was saying._

_"What do you want from me" he asked his voice hoarse. The human glared and snarled something. The dog demon responded hurriedly"I can't understand you" It didn't help. The pain returned until Sesshomaru slipped once again into the folds of unconsciousness._

_-_

_Sesshomaru sat curled up on the cot. They had moved him from the "interrogation room", as they called it, and put him in here. Someone had finally figured out that there was an honest language barrier and stopped the attacks, but not before the arrogant demon had been rendered to groveling coward, begging to be spared the agony they inflicted when he couldn't answer their single question. He had figured out sooner the human couldn't understand him but the human had had to be told that Sesshomaru couldn't understand him._

_'I'll kill him!' he thought. 'I have the human's scent. I'll know him when we meet again and I'll kill him!'_

_He stared at the barrier from over the large pillow he crushed against his chest. He now wore a plain white kimono of a style that forced him to pull it over his head rather than slip it around his shoulder. The strange white hakama had a stretching waistband that didn't need to be tied in place. He wondered what happened to his clothes and his sword Tenseiga. He was sure he still had it when he was dragged out of the ocean._

_'It better still be intact,' thought the demon as he growled into the pillow._

_The barrier he was staring at was no more substantial than air except that it had a faint red glow. He was surrounded on five sides, three walls, a ceiling and a floor, by a material harder than stone. The fourth wall was open except for the barrier that prevented his escape. He had tried it the first day and had been hurled backward into the wall, body twitching uncontrollably for several minutes._

_He then learned that they put the barrier down when someone else needed to enter. They only entered when they thought he was asleep and clear out what ever mess there was in the room. There never was much of one. Sesshomaru couldn't stand living in filth. He let them come in without stirring, watching them through his eyelashes. Then one day he had launched himself out the opening. He didn't get far before a stifled sound carried through the air at the same time a sharp pain blossomed in his legs. A couple bloomed in his abdomen and one in his shoulder. He staggered and his legs took a few more hits before he fell forward. A whistle and sharp pain in his neck was the last thing he felt before falling unconscious._

_They had healed his wounds then strapped to the hated table for another round with the nameless agony. This time they were reminding him who was in control. It defied all logic! Demons at the mercy of humans, it was an outrage but, at that moment, it was fact. He gripped the pillow harder as he tried to figure out how humans had been allowed to advance so far. How had they become greater than demons? He had no answers, it was just a fact._

_He stared at the barrier; he could see the guards with their strange weapons he knew were very dangerous. He glared death at them, they didn't even squirm. They had no fear of him, they knew they were in control, and it only served to anger him more. 'I kill them all!'_

_Someone stepped up to the boundary and it went down. The dog demon blinked in surprise, it was a priestess and she was properly dressed for her station with a white kimono and red hakama. Her black hair, laced with gray, was tied back. Spiritual energy radiated from her form, she was powerful. She stepped in as the guards pointed their weapons at Sesshomaru. He focused his attention of the priestess, wondering what she wanted._

_"Greetings, Lord of the Western Lands" she said. "I am Akima Higurashi, head priestess of Higurashi shrine." He blinked at her, her accent was barbaric and her pronunciation horrific but she was at least speaking his tongue. She even seemed to know who he was._

_"What business do you have with me, Priestess Higurashi" he demanded as he sat up straighter. It was her turn to blink as she realized the differences in pronunciation and accent but still she understood him, or at least enough to answer._

_"Many priests and priestesses were summoned in attempt to find out what language you spoke so that those holding you here would be able to talk to you, Sesshomaru."_

_"You did not answer my question, Priestess."_

_"I am here to tell you the way things are in today's world."_

_"You mean you are here to tell me humans are superior to demons" snarled Sesshomaru, gold eyes flashing anger._

_"Unfortunately, yes, I am" she replied, her expression on changing, though, her words held disgust._

_He was surprised. 'Does she think it wrong, as well?'_

_"Sesshomaru, I must ask you to restrain your anger. As humiliating as this is, you must bide your time and act decisively when the opportunity arrives. The people here are taking their orders from someone else." She turned to leave as he stared at her in surprise and wonder. She paused and said over her shoulder"I will be taking Tenseiga to the shrine. It will reside there with its brother until needed."_

_She then left without another word._

_-_

_He was back on the table._

_They had come into his room and stunned him, and now he was back on the table. He didn't know why and he was ashamed of the sense of terror he felt rising in him. He had been following Priestess Higurashi's advice; it was perfectly logical and he almost hated himself for not remembering it earlier. He could bide his time, what was time to a demon anyway? However, was he going to be given the time to bide?_

_They put a clear, stiff mask over his mouth and nose. The annoying beeping was back but it seemed to be the least of his problems. What the hell were they going to do to him? A prick in his arm followed by the sensation of something entering it caused him to growl. It was an empty threat; they knew he couldn't do anything to them. Slowly consciousness left him as humans, dressed like the first, leaned over him._

_'What are they going to do?' he thought as everything faded away._

_He awoke back on his cot but felt sick and dizzy. His head hurt and his mind was in a stupor. He tried to get up but fell to the floor instead. The room spun around his head and the only thing he attempted was to get back on the cot to wait out the sickness._

_He couldn't find it. He reached to where he saw it only to miss. He was sure he looked ridiculous as he tried to return to his bed and was certain he heard laughter from the other side of the barrier. He didn't care; he would get his revenge but now was not the time. Let them laugh for now, one day they would cringe at the mere mention of his name again. One day they would be sorry. He managed to grab hold of the cot's edge, (how did it get to be so far away?), and pulled himself onto it. He fell into a restless sleep._

-

It had been a harrowing escape for him. For some reason, the power had failed in the building. The dark had not bothered him and, realizing the barrier was down, he had fled into the hall searching for the exit. It had been easy to get past the confused guards; they didn't dare shoot in the dark for fear of hitting their comrade. He eventually found a window and shattered it with his energy whip that he summoned with his demon power.

He grinned, that was something they couldn't take from him, his power. He had landed on the roof of another building and ran. He barely noticed the dome over the strange vertical city, he just ran for the edge of it. He crashed through a check point that had been left without power as well and fled into the land beyond. The confused security never knew what hit them.

Sesshomaru was running. He ran through the strange plants that grew beyond the road. Their huge leaves slapping him in the chest and face as he ran. He wasn't going to stop; he wasn't going to go back to that place. He would keep running until he found Higurashi shrine. How far away could it be? He would go there and retrieve Tenseiga and claim Tetsusaiga; she had said Tenseiga's brother, Tetsusaiga was there, as well. He wondered if the sword would accept him this time. He remembered the first time he had tried to claim it, the sword had rejected him. A spell on the sword caused it to burn the hands of any full demon who dared to touch it. Was that spell still on the sword? Would he be able to wield it?

He shook his head of the troubling thoughts. 'I will deal with that when I reach Higurashi shrine,' he thought, 'and not a moment before.'

As dawn broke the leaves of the strange plants reached to the sky and then curled up into a small, tight ball. Weird silver-blue base leaves closed over the curled black-blue leaves. When the sun broke the horizon it saw nothing but a barren plain uniformly littered with silver-blue balls. Sesshomaru was shocked and stopped to look around. The city was no longer in sight, nothing was in fact. Barren land and silver balls were stretched from horizon to horizon.

Absorbing the horrifying image he started forward again. What else could he do? He couldn't go back, there was only forward.

-

"Is he away"

"Yes, Priestess Higurashi."

"Does Lord Augustus know about our involvement"

"No, we were careful."

"Good" said Akima as she turned from her acolyte.

"Priestess Higurashi" started the acolyte and she nervously pulled on a lock of brown hair.

"Yes"

"Will he survive? The sun is up."

Akima looked out her window at the domed city. Filtered sunlight danced through the city streets as people went about their business. She saw a kitsune barely dodge a speeding vehicle that had run a red light. She glared at the vehicle and seethed. She despised the society that had regulated demons the underclass; the ones that were always abused but never had a voice to speak against such abuses.

"He will survive, Annette" she replied. "He is a _true_ demon. He will survive what we and the demons cannot. He will change the world; for better or for worse, justice must be served."

"Ay, Priestess" Annette responded and bowed her head.

"Mind you, Sesshomaru, the revenge you seek will not come for some time and you will face many trials before it happens. You cannot master this world alone, and in the end you will want something different from what now desire" she whispered in the ancient, forgotten language of the lost islands of Japan.

-

Sesshomaru didn't think he could go on any more. The sun brutally stole moisture from his skin and the silver leaf balls reflected the punishing rays beneath any attempt to shade his face. He was no longer running; he was barely standing as he staggered forward. Finally his strength gave way and he collapsed.

'What has happened to this world?' he wondered. 'Where am I? Where are the forests? Where are the rivers? Where are the mountains?' He felt his mind leaving and knew if he fell asleep he would never awaken. As his vision faded something appeared. A pair of feet stood before him, then the person knelt down and he looked up and saw _her_ face.

"Rin" he gasped. She touched his forehead, it felt so real, and then she stood again, reaching a hand down to him to help him up. Sesshomaru pushed himself up and stretched to meet her hand with his. He staggered to his feet as the vision of Rin disappeared. He looked around for her. 'Was I dreaming?' he wondered then he saw something in the distance. He saw a shadow in the shimmering heat.

It was enough. He moved as fast as he could toward the shadow that slowly grew larger as he approached. It was very large. The white hull of the strange thing that looked like a mockery of an eagle was as big as his true demon form, but what he had seen was the hole in the hull that offered shade from the unrelenting sun. Without a second thought, to heat addled to think of what else might be inside such a refuge, he entered the behemoth. The shaded interior seemed a hundred times cooler to his sun-scorched flesh and, after retreating to the darkest area, he collapsed and fell unconscious.

-

Thank you to those of you who are kind enough to leave reviews.

As for the rest of you…

I feel more like writing something when I know I have people waiting to read it. If I don't get reviews I don't know if anyone is actually interested.

No flames, though.

Helpful critiques are welcomed and encouraged.


	5. A New Reality

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.

**Chapter Four: A New Reality**

The hover car flew over the giant black stars as Kira rode through the night. The broken moon cast its eerie pale light the plants loved so much across the landscape. Night was not only the wisest time to travel; it was the best time to travel. The world didn't look dead or like wasteland at night. It was alive with creatures and plants that only came out after sundown. A flock of gingins ran through the foliage to her left. Their blue and silver feathers reflected the light causing flashes to peek through the mammoth leaves. No doubt they were seeking some Linda's Palm fruit to fill their bellies. Yes, night was the better time to travel.

She was determined to make it back to base with as few stops as possible. Kira hated working alone. Even though her phenotype was human, she was really a dog demon. Ah, the wonders of the gene pool. She often wondered what God, if He existed and she had her doubts, was thinking allowing her to be born human weak but demon branded. It was such thoughts as these that caused her to disbelieve there were any gods. After all, if gods exist why had they allowed the world to become like this?

Many of the black stars were in bloom and their huge, white trumpets seemed to glow in the moonlight. Bats came to sip nectar from the enormous flowers and Kira grinned. Bats were one of the few species that had been able to survive the destroyed world without genetic adjustment. The flying rodents would hear her approach and dart out of the way, so she didn't fret about hitting them as she traveled.

No, she had no intention of stopping at the wrecked cargo plane, not when the night was still young. However as she approached it, something caught her eye. Slowing down, she peered at the plane. For moment a woman stood at the entrance, strangely dressed and looking as if she had been waiting for her. Kira approached the plane and as she entered the clearing around it the woman vanished.

'What?' she thought as she stared at the place the woman had been standing. 'Am I hallucinating?' She maneuvered her vehicle closer to the entrance of the cargo plane and caught a glimpse of tracks vanishing under the powerful wind her hovering car was creating. 'So she was here, she must have gone inside.' She sniffed the air but caught no scent of humans. Pulling her gun out for caution's sake she drove the car into the plane. It was dark and she didn't see any sign of the woman. The craft landed and she shut it off, no attack occurred but she was far from relieved. Where was the woman?

She moved through the plane checking every nook and cranny with her handgun cocked and ready. Still there was no sign of anyone being here. Kira was about to chide herself for allowing a hallucination to prevent her from returning to her comrades in a timely manner when she spotted someone lying on the floor in the back. She sniffed the air and caught the scent of demon, a very strong scent of demon. She wondered what it was she didn't smell but put it aside as she approached the stranger.

He obviously wasn't the woman she was looking for; his white hair alone was enough to convince her it wasn't the figure she had seen outside. However, he needed help. Lowering her gun, she stalked forward.

"Sir, are you awake?" she called. No response, not even a twitch to acknowledge her words were heard. She stood next to him and kneeled. "Sir?" She nudged him and felt the heat radiating from his body, and then she noticed his skin was an unnatural shade of red. She rolled him onto his back as she put her gun back in its holster. Every exposed region was red and his bare feet where badly blistered. She pulled at his plain laboratory shirt and eased it over his head. Even the skin on his relatively protected chest felt dry and papery.

Running over to the hidden storage unit, she pulled out several canteens of water, a sleeping bag and the medical case, then returned to her patient. Opening the sleeping bag, she laid it flat on the ground. She then lifted the man and pulled him onto the down covering. Once he was settled, she began to treat his severe sunburns. She pulled out the aloe vera gel and slathered it over his red skin first. She was grateful the plant had been spared extinction and was grown in the biospheres. Kira worked steadily through the night.

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Sesshomaru awoke slowly, his mind clouded. He struggled to remember the previous day but only the strange vision of Rin standing before him returned. The rest was a blur. Raising a hand to his forehead as he groaned he pushed himself up and realized he was shirtless.

'Where did my kimono go and who took it?' he wondered as he cast his gaze around the shelter. He saw it lying next to him near a strange container that appeared to be filled with water. Realizing he was thirsty, he reached for the bottle. It took him a moment to figure out how to open it, but once the cap was off he drank greedily from the vessel.

Then his nose told him he wasn't alone.

He smelled the mixed scent of a hanyou and quickly raised his guard. After the past weeks he wasn't sure what to expect or trust. He heard footsteps returning to him and the scent drew nearer. He felt a growl rise in his throat as the stranger moved closer and his eyes changed; red replaced the whites as turquoise replaced the golden irises.

"Now, now, none of that," said a woman as she entered his sight. The dog demon gasped in surprise, the woman looked a great deal like Rin. "I'm glad to see you're finally awake. You were out for so long I was beginning to get worried." His eyes converted back to their normal coloring, though, he remained wary. "Seems the rest has done you some good, though, you look like your back to normal. Well, as normal as I can tell, having never seen you before."

"Who are you?" His eyes never leaving her.

She bowed from the waist and placed her right fist on her chest as her left fist went to the small of her back. "I am Kira," she replied with a smile.

Some part of him wondered if she were mocking him but it was a very small part. 'She answered that one without fuss...' he thought as thousands more questions started to push against his skull. "Where am I?"

"Huh?"

He ignored her confusion and continued, his own pent up feelings flowing from him in an uncharacteristic flood, "What is this place? What is going on? Nothing makes sense. What has happened? Why are there black plants that vanish at the approach of day? Why are humans able to make this Sesshomaru cower in fear and beg for mercy? That is not right! They should fear me! I am the Lord of the Western Lands! ALL FEAR ME OR DIE BY MY HAND FOR THEIR INSOLENCE!" He was standing now, his words echoing through the shelter. His demonic energy swirled around him as he partially transformed. "WHY WERE THEY ABLE TO MAKE ME FEAR THEM? Why is nothing as it should be?" With his final words he fell to his knees all his anger drained, his demonic energy fading.

Kira whistled in awe of the display of power while baffled by his questions. "If you had shown them that face they would have shot you dead."

Sesshomaru laughed, it sounded strand and half mad. "Such insolence! Petty mortals, I could crush them with the slightest effort. Vermin that crawl across the earth wallowing in mud, hardly worthy of my attention. So why are they able to cause such fear in me?"

Kira knelt down beside him and peered beneath his snowy bangs. "What are the 'Western Lands' you speak of? I always thought demons controlling humans to be fairy tales. Stories the humans used to explain their harsh treatment of us. Is there such a place where demons rule over humans? I don't see how it's possible. I don't see how such a place could ever exist in this world."

"Fairy tales?" he repeated as he turned his face to look at her, his eyes wide in disbelief.

_"One day I'll get out of this and then your head will be mine!" swore Sesshomaru; the crystal now up to his shoulders._

_"The crystal is unbreakable; you're never getting out," assured the demon._

'It can't be,' he thought. "How long was I sealed away? How long has it been since that bastard trapped me inside the crystal?"

"Sealed?" repeated Kira then her eyes widened and she stared at the dog demon in a mixture of reverence and terror. "You are a demon from the ancient times? From before the war?" she gasped.

"War? What war?" he asked.

"The war that brought the world to the state it is now. The war that was fought between humans and demons. The war that occurred over five thousand years ago." She paused then whispered, "The war that no one won."

Sesshomaru laid back and stared at the ceiling. 'Five thousand years? That woman, Kagome, came from five hundred years in the future. Fifty-five hundred years at least have past since I was sealed.'

A single condemning word floated from his darkest dreams; from the abyss he had cast it. A word he had denied ever having any effect on him. It rose in his chest, formed in his throat and pushed out between his lips. "Alone. I'm alone." With that the last columns of his foundation were knocked out from beneath him and he fell into the void.

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You know the drill.

I like helpful reviews but I like reviews period.

Please, read and review, I really want to know what you think of this piece.

Oops! I had to update this chapter because I forgot the name Akima had been given to Priestess Higurashi so now my hanyou character here is Kira not Akima.


	6. A New Friend

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.

**Chapter Five: A New Friend**

Kira was quiet as she drove the remainder of the way back to headquarters. Her thoughts dampened down by her strange new comrade. Sesshomaru sat next to her, leaning against the sun shield and looking lost. She remembered the strange transformation that had taken him after his whispered announcement.

_"Alone. I'm alone," he whispered. All life fled him then; the fire, animation, all of it gone as if it never had been. His body became an empty shell, a shadow of what had been mere moments before. His eyes lost focus and he seemed to lose touch with the world. It was as if he had given up on life._

_Kira leaned over and took him into her arms. Resting his head against her chest, she stroked his head and whispered, "Not alone. You are not alone. I'm right here. You won't be alone as long as I'm here."_

'I meant it. No one deserves to be alone in this hell world,' she thought as she clenched her teeth, her brown eyes flashing. 'The only place he could have come from is that city under Lord Augustus control. Augustus, Dooku, and Katagai what a trio they make. They hate demons with a passion and love to torment any they capture. What a welcoming committee that would be for a "blast from the past".' She stared at the screen before is, taking in the barren ground with the odd black star cocoon breaking the cracked soil. The cocoons were spots of grounded miniature suns, the screen dampened down the harsh glare to avoid blinding the driver.

"I wonder who that woman was," she said to break the silence. "She disappeared without a trace and her scent was no where to be found."

"What woman?" Kira looked over at Sesshomaru. He hadn't changed position, nothing indicated he had said anything and she wondered if she had imagined the question. Silence, though, was stifling, so she decided to answer it.

"When I was approaching that wrecked plane you were in I wasn't planning to stop, but I saw a woman in strange clothes standing outside the entrance. Her dress looked more like a patterned bath robe. She had long brown hair and seemed to be waiting for me. I couldn't get a better look because she disappeared as I approached, I thought she had gone inside so I stopped and that's how I found you. Weird, huh?" She looked over at the snow-haired demon next to her. He had once again retreated into his own world.

'Why do I even bother?' she thought pouting.

Then he said something completely unexpected. "Higurashi."

-

Sesshomaru had been lost in his thoughts and in the past. He remembered the attack the night of his defeat and enchantment. He remembered everything more clearly now than that night. He remembered the demon's challenge, the arrogance, the confidence, the hate. The demon had hated him yet he never recalled doing anything to wrong the man, he didn't even remember ever seeing the man before.

The demon had looked human and was dressed as a human lord would be. His hair had been tied up in a samurai ponytail. They and his eyes were black while his skin was deathly pale. He remembered the strange scent about the man. A scent so strange he seemed to be neither human nor demon. His smile had been as cold as his gaze and the only time either warmed up was when Sesshomaru had fallen into his trap. That and when he told him that he would be taking Rin as his own. He had also enjoyed killing Rin and seeing her blood spray across Sesshomaru's horrified face.

'Rin,' he thought. 'Why didn't I make sure you were safe before fighting him? Why didn't I take you away from him?' The image of her charging the demon, sword raised above her head, was followed by her blood covered body and empty eyes.

_"Lord Sesshomaru…"_

Perhaps it was this last thought that caused him to hear Kira's remark about the vanishing woman.

"What woman?" he asked without moving. He then wondered why he asked, but it didn't prevent him from hearing her reply.

"When I was approaching that wrecked plane you were in I wasn't planning to stop, but I saw a woman in strange clothes standing outside the entrance. Her dress looked more like a patterned bath robe. She had long brown hair and seemed to be waiting for me. I couldn't get a better look because she disappeared as I approached, I thought she had gone inside so I stopped and that's how I found you. Weird, huh?"

'Rin?' he thought. Her image, a young, beautiful woman standing in a field of wildflowers, brown hair waving gently in the breeze.

_"If… I should ever die… would you please not forget about me?" The words are spoken by Rin but she is a child kneeling by some graves not an adult standing in the field._

_"Such a foolish thing," he replied to child Rin._

'Such a foolish thing?' he thought. His eyes lowered slightly. 'No, I will not forget, a child who fearlessly approached an injured demon in order to help him recover. How could I ever forget someone who melted this icy heart of mine? Our revenge will never come; the demon that killed us both is no longer alive.'

He stared out the tinted windows unable to see much beyond spots of light. Then he thought about the people who had tortured him. He thought about Kira's and Priestess Higurashi's words.

_"What are the 'Western Lands' you speak of? I always thought demons controlling humans to be fairy tales. Stories the humans used to explain their harsh treatment of us. Is there such a place where demons rule over humans? I don't see how it's possible. I don't see how such a place could ever exist in this world."_

_"The war that brought the world to the state it is now. The war that was fought between humans and demons. The war that occurred over five thousand years ago. The war that no one won."_

_"I am here to tell you the way things are in today's world."_

_"You mean you are here to tell me humans are superior to demons," snarled Sesshomaru, gold eyes flashing in anger._

_"Unfortunately, yes, I am," she replied, her expression unchanging, though, her words held disgust._

_She turned to leave as he stared at her in surprise and wonder. She paused and said over her shoulder, "I will be taking Tenseiga to the shrine. It will reside there with its brother until needed."_

"Higurashi," he said.

"Huh?"

He looked over at Kira who was keeping an eye on the screen in front of her and said, "Take me to Priestess Higurashi's shrine."

"Are you crazy!" she squeaked the craft rocking from her jerked reaction. "Priests and priestesses possess powers that can destroy us. They are called in when the military can't function. They are specialized forces to use in the controlling of demons. If you go there you'll be killed! I know you are feeling depressed but–"

"Did I ask you for your opinion? Did I ask you to take me there?" said Sesshomaru, some of the old fire returned. "No, I didn't ask you to do anything. I'm telling you to take me to Priestess Higurashi's shrine."

"But–" He glared at her and her protest died on her lips. "Fine, we're going to Higurashi Shrine," she said pouting. Sesshomaru turned his attention back out the tinted glass. "Aristocrats," she muttered as she turned the vehicle 120 degrees to the right. "Asamu is going to kill me," she sighed.

'Boy is that guy scary,' she thought as she glanced at the demon to her right.

"Do you mind if I ask what you are hoping to find at Higurashi Shrine, Your Lordship?"

She was surprised when he answered. "My father's swords, Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga. I have some people to kill."

"Your welcoming committee?" she asked. Sesshomaru gave her an uncomprehending look. "The people who took great pleasure in brutally showing you how the modern world worked and the boss who told them to do it?" The smile he gave scent tremors coursing throughout her body. "Okay," she said laughing nervously. 'Remind me to never get on that guy's hit list.' She pushed on the accelerator and the craft sped across the dusty daytime waste.

'Lord Augustus is one very dead man,' she thought.

-

Okay, I realized belatedly that the name Akima had been taken by Priestess Higurashi so the hanyou is now Kira not Akima.

Yes, people it's a record, two chapter in one weekend. Don't get use to it. I'm a junior in college with eighteen credit hours this semester. Plus I am working on other stories that are not fanfictions. So tough! I will update as soon as inspiration attacks occur. So don't give up on me.

Please read and review. Helpful reviews are welcomed as well as any review.


	7. A New Purpose

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.**

**Chapter Six: A New Purpose**

Kira parked the hover car inside a cavern that lay at the base of a mountain. The tunnel had taken an immediate right turn just past the entrance, shielding them and everything that lay beyond from the damning rays of the sun. Sliding the sun shield back she and Sesshomaru hopped out of the vehicle.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked for the umpteenth time. The dog demon simply stepped away from the car and looked around in the dim yellow lighting of the interior. "I mean priestesses and priests have spiritual powers and are supposed to fight us. Why do you want to see this Priestess Higurashi so badly? Why do we need these swords? I mean we have lots of weapons that can do the job, probably better, than some ancient relics."

He ignored her and began walking toward the only opening, besides the one that led outside, they could see. Kira growled and ran after him. As they approached the entryway, two figures leapt out of the shadows and shouted, "Halt! What demons dare to approach the holy shrine!"

Kira stopped and stared. The two guards were young priestesses, each armed only with staves, but she wasn't fooled. She knew they had to have a large number of holy spells prepared and ready to be hurled at her and Sesshomaru at a moment's notice.

Sesshomaru stopped before them and stated, "I believe Akima Higurashi is expecting me."

The two looked at each other then back and demanded, "Name yourself, then!"

"I am Sesshomaru," he replied and waited.

Both girls gasped and jumped to the side. "Our apologies, Lord Sesshomaru! We did not realize it was you! Yes, Priestess Higurashi is expecting you. She is in the main temple of the shrine." Nothing in their manner expressed fright of the demon, only embarrassment in having impeded his way.

Sesshomaru wasted no further time as he walked between them and up the stairs behind them. Kira could only stare. 'Guess, he was telling me the truth or should I say I _she /I _was telling him the truth.' She ran to catch up with the dog demon.

They ascended in silence, exited the stairwell, and entered a garden. Sunlight filtered through green leaves. Kira was familiar with the purpose and build of shrines, but this was first time she had ever been in one. She was awed by the beauty of a world from the past. Shadows cast by the crossbeams above were the only sign that they were inside a building; a huge biosphere that covered entire mountain ranges and valleys within them. Inside these greenhouses lived the ecosystems that had been lost to the outside world, unable to cope with the radiation that poured down upon the Earth each day.

Sesshomaru stopped to gaze about him. He was surprised by what he was seeing, but it wasn't the same awe Kira felt. To him this was how the world should be.

"It didn't take you long to get here," said a woman to the right. Both turned and there stood an aging priestess. She held a bouquet of golden flowers as she gazed at them. "I, myself, have only just arrived."

"You said you possess the swords, Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga," stated the dog demon, his golden eyes staring at her in a mixture of distrust and anticipation.

"In good time, but first there is something I need to do. You may accompany if you wish," Priestess Higurashi said as she turned away from the duo. In times of old the Lord of the Western Lands would have been irked by her behavior. Now Sesshomaru merely followed after with Kira, with great reluctance, tagging along. However, she couldn't quell her rising curiosity and her steps didn't drag as much as they would have at other times.

They strode deeper into the compound. As they cleared the trees, Kira spotted a large tree encircled with sacred sutras. The dog demon paused as he came abreast of it and looked at it.

"This tree…" he started then fell quiet as he face became thoughtful, almost sad.

"Do you remember it?" asked Priestess Higurashi, turning toward him. "It is not the sacred tree you knew, but its daughter."

"Daughter?"

"The mother tree you knew was destroyed along with the original Higurashi shrine five thousand years ago, during the war that led the world to this sorry state. My ancestor, the priest Sota Higurashi, got wind of an attack on his ancestral home. He, his daughters, and his son gathered sacred objects, the ashes of their ancestors and family, and a cutting from the sacred tree and moved them away from the shrine to a safe location as fast as they could. However, as they were gathering the last items, the sacred Shikon no Tama and the cutting of the sacred tree, Katagai's men attacked. As grenades started landing and exploding, Inuyasha and Koga barreled into the shrine and carried Sota and his daughters away from the burning shrine. One of the girls held the cutting; sadly, Sota's son perished. He had been retrieving the Shikon no Tama from its place in the shrine when the attack occurred. No one was able to reach him. To this day the sacred jewel's whereabouts are unknown."

"How did the sacred jewel end up in your ancestor's shrine?" asked Sesshomaru, staring at her.

Kira, who had been struggling to process all the information Priestess Higurashi had just delivered, suddenly realized something and asked before the priestess could answer Sesshomaru, "Wait a minute! You mean the Katagai family had your ancestor's shrine marked for destruction! Why?"

Higurashi looked between the two then sighed, "I think I can answer you both with a single name: Kagome."

Kira stared at the priestess, perplexed, as Sesshomaru, eyes narrowing, asked, "That girl who was always with Inuyasha seeking shards of the jewel?"

"Yes, her. You see Kagome was Sota's elder sister. She was murdered by Katagai two years before the war began while standing on her family's temple grounds. Sniper fire. You understand the power of today's projectile weapons don't you?" The dog demon nodded, his expression guarded. "Katagai was believed to have possessed a high powered rifle that allowed him the ability to kill Kagome while sitting somewhere far away from the temple. She had been conversing with Inuyasha in front of the sacred tree when it happened. That coward was probably a mile away when he blew her brains out."

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Sesshomaru was inwardly reeling from all that she had said. 'Koga? Inuyasha? Kagome?' Names he had known from before and yet she was now telling him that spirited girl that his brother had loved so dearly had been killed. Kagome had not only been murdered in a cowardice way, but she had been talking to Inuyasha; she had been murdered right before his eyes!

'Just like Rin. Why did he leave Inuyasha alive? Why did he kill Kagome and not Inuyasha? I'm sure he could have killed them both but deliberately killed the human and left the hanyou alive. Why? To make him suffer?' A dangerous new thought occurred to the dog demon. 'Is he the same one that killed Rin? Is he in truth a demon and not a human?' Sesshomaru started growling as the thought of his beloved Rin's murderer was still alive.

He heard Kira words as if from a distance. "So Sota refused to join with Katagai because he murdered his sister?"

"That and Higurashi shrine didn't believe in Katagai's words. You see Koga and Inuyasha were demons. Sota had grown up calling Inuyasha brother, because he was always hanging out with his sister," replied the priestess.

"You mean your ancestors were on the side of the demons in the war?" Shock and disbelief intertwined with her words.

Sesshomaru, though, was torn; he had to know but was afraid to. Finally he asked, "What happened to them? What happened to Koga, Inuyasha, Jaken, and Shippo? Tell me their fate if you know it." He looked up and saw her hesitating to speak. His heart plunged. "Tell me!" he roared. Anyone else would have retreated from his wrath the Priestess Higurashi only looked down at her feet before she answered him.

"Koga and his wolves were cut down by machine gun fire." He stared at her, determined to hear it, though, he felt his insides quake.

'I had respected Koga. He was always a strong fighter as well as strong willed.'

"Jaken was killed during a bomb raid conducted by Katagai's people."

'I wonder how he reacted to my disappearance and Rin's death. He was always such a loyal fool.'

"Shippo was slain by the powers of priests from another shrine."

'All I remember of him is this little kitsune trying to be a man when he was still just a child. Always teasing Inuyasha and running to Kagome for protection.'

"Inuyasha…"

'I don't want to hear it!' some part of him screamed.

"…was killed in battle…"

'Shut up!' His face remained passive despite his inner turmoil.

"…by Katagai."

'No! I was supposed to kill him! Me! No one else! I was supposed to end his meaningless existence! I was supposed to…'

"How?" he said, his voice betraying him by cracking with suppressed emotion.

"Sota didn't witness the battle; however, he wrote down that he recalled hearing swords clashing and as he ran along the base of the cliff. He realized they were fighting above him. He couldn't see them. He heard Inuyasha scream then saw him fall from the cliff. He came to the hanyou's side and saw he had been killed by a sword wound. Tetsusaiga was lying on the ground near him. Sota carried both sword and body to the boat his family was retreating from Japan on. When they were a fair distance from the island they looked back and saw Japan, burning and sinking beneath the waves."

"Katagai wielded a sword against Tetsusaiga and won!" Terror infused his voice as his mind flashed on the image of Tokijin flying from his hand.

'No!' His body weakened as realization set in. 'No!' He leaned against the sacred tree. 'No!' Images of people now gone flashed through his mind. People he had dismissed. People he had never shown or known to care about.

_"Hey you!__ You tried to kill me, didn't you! Don't think you're going to get away with it, mister."_

'Kagome…'

_"I would be honored if you allowed me to serve under you."_

'Jaken…'

_"Nice try, jerk! She's been dead for years and we both know it! Like I'd really fall for some stupid trick like that."_

'Inuyasha… I was the one who was supposed to kill you. I was the one who was supposed to…'

An image of a child Inuyasha looking up at him in both awe and fear, flashed before his eyes.

'I was supposed to…'

The betrayed look on the child hanyou's face.

'I was…'

The look of hatred when they met again.

'I was supposed to…'

_"It is you… Sesshomaru!"_

'…to protect you.'

_Sesshomaru__ was thrown backwards as Tokijin flew from his hand…_

_"Still have some fight left in you after all, Lord Sesshomaru," sneered the attacking demon. The demon looked human but stank of demonic powers…_

_"Maybe I'll have her after I've killed you," the demon snickered. _

_His nails shot out and impaled the young woman stopping her in her tracks._

_"She actually thought she could hit me?" said the demon. His extended nails shrank back to their normal size. "Humans are such foolish creatures."_

_"Rin," gasped Sesshomaru in disbelief._

_"Lord Sesshomaru," whispered Rin as she toppled forward. She was dead before she hit the ground._

_He held a hand to his wounded face and glared with his remaining eye at Sesshomaru._

_"One day I'll get out of this and then your head will be mine!"_

_"The crystal is unbreakable; you're never getting out."_

'I was supposed to protect you both and I failed.'

"Katagai has only one eye," said Sesshomaru as he pushed himself away from the tree. A horrible realization was taking form.

"How did you know?" asked Kira.

The dog demon roared as her question confirmed in his mind his growing suspicion. He ignored the number of terrified eyes they looked his way. Nobody dared to move. Eyes glowing red, he snarled, "Katagai is a demon! I will avenge my mate! I will avenge my brother! I will make him regret the day he ever crossed swords with me! I made a promise back then and I always keep my promises; his head shall be mine!"

Priestess Higurashi was the only one staring at him calmly. Everyone else, including Kira had backed up several steps and looked on in horror.

"So that is truth of Katagai," she said to no one.

"Katagai's a demon!" gasped Kira.

"Rin, my mate, Inuyasha, my brother, just wait a little longer. I shall bring you peace with the blood of the one who took it away," he whispered as he flexed his claws.

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Update needed because when I was rereading this I realized I had made tons of errors. This should be better now. I am working on chapter seven. Also I have started a new book called "Forgotten" that is unrelated and has nothing to do with this that is a prequel to the series and will involve both dog boys.

Yeah, yeah, I know I took a long time writing this one up.

My petty excuses for the long delay are:

1) I was inspired to work on my original story "A Princess Among Wolves", which I am still working on.

2) I was uncertain as to how to proceed, lamest of all excuses on this list.

3) I had discovered and read the newly released Inuyasha manga chapters from shonen jump that depicted Sesshomaru breaking Tokijin and gaining the ability to attack with Tenseiga. Since I have decided to not ditch Tokijin Tenseiga will not have its nifty new attack either. Which is just fine since he will be using Tetsusaiga to blow things up, mwhahahaha!

4) I had a two week period where I couldn't get on the internet.

I don't know when I'll get to the next chapter but hopefully it will be within the month or else you'll be out of luck until mid August. Mwhahaha!


	8. A New Recruit

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.

**Chapter Seven: A New Recruit**

'Asamu is never going to believe this,' Kira thought flatly. The hover car flew once again across the deserted landscape. Next to her Sesshomaru slid his fingers along the rusted blade of one of the swords Priestess Higurashi had given him.

Her mind still whirled with everything she had discovered. 'Katagai is really a fifty-five hundred year-old demon who basically sold out his own kind for reasons unknown. Maybe it was power; with all the other demons being ground into the dirt he would be the uncontested top dog in the world.' Something told her that wasn't the answer.

She rubbed her temples and sighed. 'I have a demon that was sealed away fifty-five hundred years ago and who is going mad from culture shock.' Her face twisted in disgust. 'Not that I blame him, I would probably go crazy too if I had to spend a few weeks in Lord Augustus' "care". Somehow, I have to explain all this to my brother. And what exactly can we do with this information anyway?'

She thought back to when Sesshomaru had revealed Katagai's true identity. His reaction had been startling, the surge of demonic power, the frightening transformation of his face. Priestess Higurashi was the only one who hadn't retreated from the horrifying visage. Instead, she approached him and dared to touch his arm.

"That is all well and fine, Lord Sesshomaru, however, you cannot kill Katagai if you don't first survive," she said, her expression calm. She turned from him when he glanced at her and walked away. "I need to attend the graves then I will give you what you came for." The two dog demons, Sesshomaru, having reclaimed his calm, if withdrawn, demeanor, and Kira, who was still wondering what she had gotten herself into and not entirely sure if she disliked it, followed after.

The graveyard was large, echoing the thousands of years that had past since its founding. Kira glanced at the names and dates carved into the stones as Priestess Higurashi and two others went to each grave. One cleaned the tombstone of dirt and moss. The priestess removed the old dried out flowers from the bamboo vases and replaced them with fresh flowers. The last person lit a stick of incense and stuck it into the ground between the vases.

It was like a journey back in time, each grave seemed to whisper of the lives laid to rest within them. Then they came across a number of graves that weren't written in common. The symbols were incomprehensible to Kira but they had a profound affect on Sesshomaru. He stepped past the priestesses and knelt amongst them. Kira moved forward and bent over as he reached out a hand to touch on of the stones.

"Someone you know?" she asked.

"My brother," he replied without turning away.

"Oh." Embarrassed, she looked away and thought, 'Five thousand years ago that war gobbled up everything he ever knew. He really is alone. There's nothing this world can offer that's familiar, save this shrine… and his father's swords.' She glanced back at him. 'Is that why he wants them?' She stared at the strange writing for another few seconds.

"Can you really read that?" she asked. She knew it was rude, she knew the world once had several forms of writing. Still, she just couldn't see how anyone could understand such complicated symbols. Each stone held a different suite of symbols with little in common with the others.

"Can't you? We're speaking the same tongue," he responded, flickering a glance her way.

"No, she can't. You are speaking the same language, yes, but it is not your native tongue," Priestess Higurashi answered. She stopped to set flowers and pray over another grave near them before continuing. "Augustus was furious to discover there was a language barrier. He ordered his surgeons to implant a device into your brain that would instantly translate all verbal speech into the common tongue. The reason why you haven't noticed it is because it affects your thoughts. You are thinking in common instead of Japanese."

Kira stared at her in horror. "But Augustus' surgeons are heavy handed when it comes to demons or prisoners, and a demon prisoner is twice damned!"

Priestess Higurashi moved to the next grave and there breaking off the conversation for a moment. Then she said, "That is why I'm worried."

"Are you suggesting something?" Sesshomaru asked quietly, his eyes cold as he stared at the two. His tone implied they had better not be.

"Lord Sesshomaru, put your pride on hold and think for a minute," Priestess Higurashi stated. Sesshomaru blinked, not understanding the idiom. "Augustus had his surgeons cut into your head, into your brain! They were probably only as careful as it was necessary to keep you alive. There may have been some damage done; just what, I have no idea. I'm not a doctor."

The implications were startling. Kira returned to the present, there wasn't much reason too; she had put the car on autopilot so she could think. She would only be needed if they came under attack or were arriving at their destination. The car's computer would warn her in both cases.

She glanced back at her new companion. 'He could suffer a massive brain hemorrhage at any time, a stroke, or even collapse into seizures. After all this time, all the other post-operative problems can be ruled out simply because they would have happened sooner rather than later. The smallest and least noticeable consequence would be memory loss.'

Her gaze traveled to his swords lying in his lap. Priestess Higurashi had led them into the temple after she had finished with the graves. The first thing her disciples had done was offer Sesshomaru a change of clothes. The dog demon had looked at the clothes then arched an eyebrow at the priestess.

"I figured you'd want to remove clothing that reeked of your captivity," she replied to his unspoken question. Without a word, he snatched up the clothes and allowed them to guide him to a side room. The priestess had read him well.

"How did you find him?" she asked, startling Kira.

"Excuse me?"

"How did you come across Lord Sesshomaru?"

Kira kicked the floor, wondering how she was supposed to explain the strange woman. Finally, she decided to simply tell the truth. "I had no intention of stopping on my journey, at least not there." She omitted where it was she had not wanted to stop. After all, it was one of the rebellion's secret rest areas. That was not information to be handed out to just anyone, even if she was proving to be a friend. "I then saw a woman in strange clothes standing there, a human woman. Wondering what she was doing way out there and how she got there, I stopped. She disappeared so I began to look for her and that's when I found him."

The priestess looked thoughtful, but did not indicate she thought Kira mad. "I wonder who that was," she whispered.

"I don't know. She didn't even leave a scent or tracks; it was like she didn't exist."

"Maybe she didn't, at least, not physically. A phantom, perhaps?" wondered the priestess.

A chill ran over the hanyou, but before she could say anything else Sesshomaru emerged from the room. Kira's jaw dropped in awe. The clothing he had been given was stylish and looked great on him. A form fitting white shirt peeked out of a brown bike jacket that had off-white fleece lining. Someone had added spikes to the shoulders. Blue denim pants held up by a thick brown belt completed the outfit. The pant legs went past his ankles and dragged on the floor around his socks. A pair of army boots were held over his shoulder. She wondered why he hadn't put them on yet.

"I'm glad to see that everything fit," said Priestess Higurashi, her voice and expression smug.

While Kira couldn't have said that he had been lacking in pride and confidence when she met him, he did seem to have more of a presence around him now. She snapped her mouth shut when she realized she was starting to drool. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice.

The priestess waved two of her people forward; each was carrying something. She reached over and picked up one of the objects and said, "I give you back Tenseiga." Sesshomaru took the sword and rubbed his thumb along the sheath. He then tucked it into his belt.

When she reached for the other Sesshomaru asked, "Has the spell on Tetsusaiga been removed?" Kira looked at him, confused.

The priestess hesitated and then admitted, "I have no idea. We'll just have to trust Tetsusaiga to be more agreeable this time around." She took hold of the sword and presented it to him. He put the boots down and held out his hand. He gripped the hilt and pulled the legendary blade, sheath and all, toward him. He held it with reverence then his expression saddened.

"For so many years I have longed to hold this sword, to be its true master, and now that I possess it, I wish I didn't," he whispered.

Kira's attention snapped back to reality when the car beeped for her attention. She could see her destination ahead. A city that had been destroyed and abandoned during the war and thus didn't possess even the remains of a dome. The perfect place for the rebellion to be based, nobody knew it even existed.

"Well, we've arrived," she said, not knowing how to break through Sesshomaru's wall of silence.

"You live here?" he asked and she saw him staring past the screen toward the ruined skyscrapers.

"Well, living in luxury is not an option when you're trying to stay hidden," she stated, then cursed herself when she realized she had yet to tell him of the rebellion she was part of.

"Yes?" Sesshomaru gazed at her with a raised eyebrow, no doubt wondering what had brought about her sudden burst of vulgar language.

"I forgot to tell you, I'm part of what is widely known as the 'Demon Rebel Army'. We fight people like Augustus, Katagai, and their ilk in attempt to bring demons up to equal status so we won't have to live in constant fear all the time," she said, then looked over at him.

"Is there a problem?"

"Well I know you have a personal vendetta against Augustus and Katagai, and that you were a lord, are a lord. That can equal to unreliability and the army can't have that."

"Unreliability?"

She realized then he might take that as an insult to his fighting ability and courage. She hurried to explain. "I'm not saying anything about your battle prowess! I'm talking about your teamwork abilities. We can't have any 'lone rangers'; you have to be able to work with others as a team." Once again, she saw his golden eyes cloud in confusion at her choice of words. A translation chip can only do so much.

She sighed and tried again. "You can't fight every battle as if you are the only one there. In this place, people will be relying on you. Every decision you make can have a positive or negative effect on those you are fighting with and you have to keep that in mind. Now, as a lord I'm sure you aren't going to be thrilled with the idea of taking orders from others and, since you are brand new to this world, you can't be in charge so will be taking orders. I believe the thought of being someone's underling would be galling for you."

She glanced over and saw that she had his complete attention. The city loomed before them.

"Finally, that vendetta of yours, if you allow vengeance to fuel your actions you will be placing others in danger. Basically, you're a risk and a liability. I don't know if those at the base will want to take you on."

"So where would I go if I were to leave right now?" he asked, his voice quiet. She had no idea what he could be thinking. "You said it yourself; I have no understanding of this world. Where could I go?"

"I don't know," she whispered, hating herself. All she could do was tell him that he didn't fit in and there was no hope for him.

"My pride was what killed Rin," he said unexpectedly. She started and the car jerked. He didn't notice and continued. "If I had fled when I realized I couldn't defeat him, Rin would not have died that night and I might have been able to defeat later and spare this world its suffering."

"You don't know that."

"No, I don't," he agreed. "I do know that Priestess Higurashi told me I had to first survive before I can get my revenge. If this is the only way…"

"You'll try to be a reliable member of the army? You'll try to take orders without complaint and think of others before yourself?" she asked glancing at him again. Life had fled his features. She began to get an inkling of what would have to happen for this to succeed, and she wished there could be another way.

'Why do I feel like he's going to have to go through a rebirth before he can become what we deem as "reliable"?'

She pulled the car into an opening in the side of the buildings and drove down into the base. Once she was in shadow, work lights filled the corridor around her and demons appeared, going about their various tasks. Pulling into a space clear of the exit corridors, she landed the vehicle and shut it down.

One last depressing thought filled her mind, 'And everyone knows rebirth only occurs after death.'

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Yes people, it's here! After many long weeks I have finally written the next chapter! You will also be happy to know that Chapter Eight: Recruitment Troubles will soon follow.

To those who are awaiting the next installment of "Forgotten" I am halfway done with Chapter One, but I cannot make any guarantees at this time when that will be up. I do have school, you know.


	9. Recruitment Troubles

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.**

**Chapter Eight: Recruitment Troubles**

"Hey, Kira!" someone shouted from the rear of the vehicle.

'Oh great…' she thought, recognizing Chris. The cat demon had a healthy dose of feline superiority. He always believed himself right, mighty, and everything else cats seemed to think they were. Everything she considered to be "extremely obnoxious" and "irritating".

"We were about to have a memorial for you, you were so late. The job not as easy as you thought it would be?" sneered the black cat. He just loved finding faults in anyone that wasn't a cat.

"I got delayed," she replied, trying to wave off the over critical feline. She saw Sesshomaru leap out of the car, landing behind Chris without a sound or stirring any dust. 'Color me impressed,' she thought, awed.

"'I can get in and out, no prob,' you said. 'I can handle this on my own,' you said. 'They'll never know what hit them,' you said," Chris mimicked, amber eyes glittering with malicious glee. "Now you come back late and say, 'I got delayed'? I just have to wonder if you even got the job done or not." He shook his head like she was a disappointment.

Kira narrowed her dark eyes and opened her mouth to retaliate when Aaron walked up and asked, "Who's the new recruit?"

"What recruit? We weren't expecting anyone," demanded the feline. Aaron, a wolf demon, simply spun the loud-mouth cat around. Sesshomaru, arms crossed, was leaning against the parked hover craft, looking bored.

"So, who is he?" asked Aaron over his shoulder.

"You can't just bring someone new to this place without the rest of us approving first much less not knowing about it!" Chris shouted, whirling around to face her. "Stupid dog! Wait, that's not right, you're not even a half dog, you're a stinking, mislabeled human!"

Kira growled, her demon power rising, her eyes changed to red with turquoise irises. Her nails extended into claws and her fangs became longer. Aaron jumped between the two calling for calm when a hand gripped Chris' shirt and he was suddenly face to face with Sesshomaru.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you," the dog demon whispered, but in the sudden silence it carried throughout the underground garage. "You are not exactly pure yourself."

Kira gritted her teeth and waited, hoping that, for once, Chris would do the smart thing and keep his mouth shut. She heard the cat take a deep sniff and saw his ears twitch in puzzlement. She knew what he smelled, or didn't smell, as the case was. When she had met Sesshomaru she had noted the absence of a scent, but hadn't figured out what was until after she had visited the shrine.

Sesshomaru was an ancient demon; unlike all the other demons in the world today, he had no human in him. What she had missed and what Chris was missing was the scent of human blood within him.

Chris, though, wasn't likely to figure that out since that was impossible. Kira wasn't sure if she should tell the others about Sesshomaru's origins. She knew it would look bad for him and she didn't want everyone ostracizing him because he was, by this world's terms, a freak.

The feline looked like he was about to say something when Sesshomaru cut him off, "I don't like cat demons, they're too full of themselves."

"Yeah, well I guess we're even then, cuz I don't like you either," snarled Chris. Kira wanted very badly to slap a muzzle on the feline before he talked himself into an early grave.

"We're hardly even, neko," said Sesshomaru as he leaned forward, tightening his grip on the feline's shirt. Chris blinked along with everyone else, including Kira, in confusion at the last word.

'Neko?' she wondered. 'Is that a word from his native language? Oh damn! If that is going to occur off and on, I don't know how I'll keep his origins a secret.'

Fortunately, everyone was distracted from the foreign word when a stern "Stand down!" rang throughout the chamber. Sesshomaru straightened up and looked toward the source of the command, but didn't release his hold on Chris. His eyes were clouded with confusion.

Before she could step in, Asamu marched around the car with two of his officers trailing behind. The difference between her and him was the same as night and day.

He resembled a full demon just as she resembled a full human. His close cropped hair was a pale silver. Blue demon stripes lined his eyebrows and the backs of his hands. His eyes were a supernatural color of green and his ears were pointed, albeit longer than Sesshomaru's and they had the tendency to twitch every now again. Fine hairs decorated the backs of them; the only sign that he had human in his ancestry.

'It's hard to believe we're full-blooded siblings,' she thought. 'I certainly got the short end of the stick here. Couldn't he have shared the love?'

She saw Sesshomaru raise an eyebrow as he approached. Asamu stopped short seeing the dog demon was still holding onto Chris. "Release him!" he barked.

Sesshomaru stared at him and didn't move. Kira gritted her teeth and thought frantically, 'You promised to try! You promised to try, remember!' Finally, after what felt like hours, Sesshomaru shoved Chris away from him. Kira let out the breath she had been holding.

"Kira!"

'Oh, Hell!'

"Who is this and why did you feel it was okay to bring him here without first consulting me or my officers?" demanded Asamu.

'He's such a hard-ass, but I guess that's what makes him such a great general,' she thought.

She sighed and said, "Can I speak with you in private, General?"

"You can't explain yourself here?" he asked, crossing his arms.

'Wonder what put him in such a bad mood,' she thought and skipped over to him. Swinging an arm around his neck, she pulled him down until her mouth was next to his ear and hissed through her teeth, "It's sensitive information, Brother."

"Fine, we'll discuss this in private," he relented. He looked back at Sesshomaru and said, "Though, find someone to supervise your new friend, I don't want anymore mischief."

She looked over her shoulder at the wolf demon and called, "Aaron, be a dear, and keep all the friendlies away. I don't want any accidents occurring while I'm gone. And don't get offended if he doesn't say anything, he's sort of antisocial."

"Got it," replied the wolf, giving a mock salute. He walked over and hopped on top of the car next to the dog demon. Sesshomaru eyes were once again clouded, having, despite the chip, not understood a word she had just said.

She paused before following Asamu. Wondering if she should run over and give the dog demon a reassuring kiss, she recalled Rin, and dismissed the idea. She turned and jogged to catch up with her retreating brother.

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Sesshomaru leaned back against the car prepared to wait like that until she returned. He hadn't realized how much he had come to depend on Kira in their brief time together until she walked away. At her disappearance, the full impact of his new reality struck him.

The world shrank around him and a sense of claustrophobia invaded his usually calm mind. The voices around him echoed, grew louder and became distorted. He was scarcely aware of his hands rising to cover his ears. He broke out in a sweat, panic seizing him.

He felt a hand grip his shoulder, he jerked around. Koga had a startled expression on his face and recoiled slightly. "Are you alright?" he asked, honest concern showing on his face.

'No, that's not right,' Sesshomaru thought, panting. 'Koga was killed five thousand years ago.' _He_ recoiled and stepped away from the car.

He stood in a grassy field. He could see Mt Fuji in the distance. The sun overhead was bright and cheery, clouds lazily wondered across the blue sky.

"This can't be," he whispered.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" someone called.

He turned and saw a young human woman running towards him, a huge smile on her face. He turned toward her. "Rin!" he said and smiled then his golden eyes widened in fear.

Black clouds surged through the sky behind her and he saw _him_ rise up behind his beloved. Sesshomaru sprang forward and tried to cry a warning, but his voice caught in his throat. The demon slashed downward striking her, Rin gasped and fell forward.

"Lord Sesshomaru," she whispered, her blood turning the grass crimson.

"Rin!" he screamed. The demon vanished, laughing. Sesshomaru ran to Rin then skidded to a halt in horror. The evil clouds covered the sky now, but there was no lack of light. They were being lit from beneath by the glow of countless fires. The field bled; it oozed out of the ground around him, climbed up stems and dripped off blade tips. Screams and explosions rang through the air; growing louder by the second as the wave of battle moved closer. He could smell death on the wind, it was suffocating. The scent of demons and humans intermingled nearly choking him.

"Where is the battle? Where are they fighting?" he gasped. He looked, he listened, he sniffed but it came from no single direction. It was as if he stood in the middle of the battle already yet nothing but bloody fields surrounded him.

Laughter broke out behind him, louder than the din of the dying. The dog demon whirled. The silence was like a physical blow, winding him in its sudden fall. So were the countless bodies that now occupied the field. Humans and demons lay tangled together so tightly there was no place to step around them. Crimson pools gathered in the recesses and bloody streams wove there way over and between the dead.

He heard the laughter again and slowly looked behind him. The demon, Rin's murderer, stood among the bodies. He smiled, his eyes glittering with dark rapture.

"Katagai!" roared Sesshomaru, charging with wild abandon, his claws aiming for the man's vulnerable head. "This time, you won't escape, Devil!"

His claws sliced through empty air where Katagai's head had been a moment before. He whirled around, nothing. Only the field of dead and the glowing sky remained. A bit of green and white caught his eye and he turned. His features twisted with horror. Before him, where Katagai had been standing, were Inuyasha and Kagome.

Both dead.

Inuyasha's arms were wrapped around the girl as if he had been trying to protect her when they died. Their faces showed no signs of peace, only fear and pain.

"No!"

The ground rumbled beneath him and he caught the scent of brine. The silky roar of water grew louder and he turned in the direction of the sound and scent. A wall of water towered above him. He turned to flee, but his feet tangled and he fell. He looked back and saw Inuyasha gripping his ankle with one hand as the other clutched the lifeless Kagome to him.

"Why did you abandon us?" the hanyou whispered, his eyes filled with hate and despair.

"No, I didn't…" He choked on the words, unfamiliar feelings of guilt threatening to drown him before the wave did. "I didn't…" Sesshomaru had no idea what Inuyasha could have been thinking when he saw Katagai wielding Tokijin. Was this really what he felt at the end?

"Not this, please not this…" he gasped then screamed and raised his arms as the water came smashing down on top of him.

"Why did you abandon us?" The current carried him away from the dead and their accusations, but he couldn't escape the betrayed look in Inuyasha's eyes.

"I didn't…" Blackness invaded his mind and soul as he was dragged into the depths.

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"You want me to take on such a loose cannon as this Sesshomaru?" asked Asamu, incredulous.

"What do you want me to do? He has been in this world not even a month! How the hell is he supposed to exist?" demanded Kira, slamming her fists against the table.

"I have to agree with Kira, Asamu. If we turn him away, we have as good as killed him," said Kelsey. She was a cross between cat and fire, an _exciting_ combination; she was also one of the oldest members of the army. Her opinion held more weight than others. Kira was glad she had Kelsey on her side.

"We haaavvve to think of the rebellion and itsss memberssss firsssst," stated Michael, a snake demon.

"We are talking about a disciplined fighter whose only faults are that he is used to fighting alone and being in charge. We can work with that," responded Kelsey.

"I'm worried about hissss vendetta," said the snake. Unlike his kind's reputation, he wasn't sinister or sneaky; his worries were valid, concerns genuine.

"Can't we give him a chance? He promised he would try to be a good team member," pleaded Kira.

Kelsey turned to Asamu and said, "That's really all we can ask of him." Kira didn't hear her brother's reply as her gaze was drawn to a figure standing behind him and the officers.

The woman from the secret rest stop was there. She hugged herself and stared through the wall with a worried, almost frightened, expression on her face. Her dark eyes flickered to Kira's then she returned her attention to whatever lay beyond the wall.

Kira needed no further prompting. She flew out the door ignoring the shouts from her brother and sped to the main garage. She paused at the entrance and saw a crowd gathered around something. Seeing no one at her car, she ran to the crowd.

"Let me through!" she shouted while she elbowed and shoved her way through the mass. She broke into the center and stopped.

Three medics were working with professional calm over the prone form of Sesshomaru. No one was hurt, she didn't smell any blood. Aaron stood off to one side looking unhappy. She approached him so as not to disturb the medics.

"What happened?" she asked him.

He shrugged and replied, "Some sort of anxiety attack. He just freaked out all of a sudden." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head and looked at Sesshomaru again. "What did Katagai do to him? I mean we all hate Katagai but this… The hate was personal."

'Sesshomaru,' she thought as she turned back to the unconscious man. She walked forward and knelt beside him. She barely noticed the crowd parting for her brother, Kelsey, and Michael.

"Was he attacking anyone?" Asamu asked. Kira could have killed him right then.

"Nothing but his nightmares," replied Medic Anya without emotion. "He suffered sort of mental breakdown."

"I can't have someone like this in my army, Kira," her brother stated. "He must leave." The young woman bit her lip and tried to suppress the tears that threatened to spill.

"With all do respect, General. This man is now our patient and you will not be doing anything with him 'til I say otherwise," said Anya, glaring at Asamu.

Kira saw her brother start to argue when Michael put his hand on Asamu's arm and said, "Sssshe is right, the medical persssonnel'sss ordersss ssssuperssssede a military commander'ssss. The man ssstaysss, for now."

It was a victory, but a very small one that hardly meant anything. If Sesshomaru couldn't prove himself he would have to leave and how could he do that if he wasn't mentally stable?

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Wee! Okay, now I'm in trouble. I have no idea what to do for Chapter Nine. I know how I want to snap Sesshomaru out of his withdrawal and prove to the team he can work with them. The trouble is there is going to be a certain amount of time between that event and this one. Now I could cheat and simply jump forward to that event, which I can do, but I feel like I should have one middle chapter to move the spot light around and expand the world a bit more. Maybe go over and say "howdy do" to old Katagai and see whether or not Sesshomaru's theory really is true. We can jump over and see if we can't find more characters that are among the cities. Maybe we can flash back into Kira's past. What do you think should come next?

Please note that I retain the final decision on what the next chapter will be. I may or may not use your suggestions, but wouldn't it be nice if you could help the brainstorm process just a bit. Even if I don't take your ideas you will have helped me write this chapter and possibly the next few!

I am not going to be here or able to write over Labor Day weekend. I am going to a memorial service for my Grandfather, who died August 22, 2005 and I may not feel like writing for awhile afterwards. Or I may write a lot like last week as I try to distract myself from the loss.


	10. Troubles of the Lords

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.**

**Chapter Nine: The Troubles of the Lords**

"You could find no trace of him?" said Augustus, his teeth grinding as he glared death at the subordinate.

"My apologies my lord, but we searched everywhere. There is no sign of the escaped demon within the city and without. Even given his demonic speed and the time that has past, we should have found him. I fear he has been discovered by the Rebellion." The young man managed to say this without stuttering, though, terror had turned his insides to ice. The blonde lord did not tolerate failure and the subordinate feared for his life as he gave the dismal report.

"Incompetent fools!" shouted the outraged lord and he threw a glass of water at the unfortunate messenger. The glass bounced off the forearm he raised to defend himself and shattered against the floor. Water dripped from brown locks and slid down his pale blue uniform. "Get out my sight, wretch!" The man fled, grateful to have escaped with his life.

As soon as he was alone, Augustus fell back into his chair and sighed. "What a disaster this has turned out to be," he muttered, rubbing his forehead.

The communication console beeped for his attention startling the lord from his thoughts. Reluctant, he moved toward the console and pushed the talk button. "This is Lord Augustus."

The screen blinked to life and the lord blanched. The un-aging face of Katagai stared back him with his single, black eye. Claw marks poked out the top and bottom of the eye-patch on the left side of his face; a memento from a long ago battle with a demon.

Like everyone else who knew Katagai's secret, Augustus had been wary of the un-aging lord, but Katagai had put their minds at ease long ago. He had explained to them that long he had been cursed with immortality by a demon. He would never be able to die and join his family in the netherworld; he would never know peace. He had decided then that he would not consider it a curse and instead used it to curse the demon and all his kind with his undying hatred.

Augustus would never have thought of immortality as a curse until he considered that while time stood still for him the rest of the world moved on. Friends and family would grow old and die leaving him alone. It truly was something to be pitied. However, immortality had not regenerated Katagai's lost eye.

The gruesome sight of the disfigured left cheek, and the knowledge that Katagai was thousands of years old, made every noble, especially young ones like Augustus, frightened of confronting him. The fact that Katagai was calling on him now after he had just lost an ancient demon turned the blonde lord's blood to ice. This wasn't a coincidence.

"Good evening, Augustus," said Katagai, his voice smooth and soft. That only served to make the lord tremble. This was not going to go well.

"Greetings, Katagai. What can I do for you?" asked Augustus, plastering a smile onto his face and trying to keep from stuttering.

"You can start by sending me all the information you have on your escaped demon," said Katagai, his voice never changing.

Augustus silently cursed. Katagai's informants hadn't wasted any time in getting this latest development back to their master.

"Katagai–," started the young lord but was cut off.

"Don't try to tell me you have the situation well in hand. I know for a fact that the demon escaped and is most likely in the hands of the Rebellion," Katagai said, his voice turning harsh and his black eyes snapping.

"Katagai!" protested Augustus. It was a lost cause but the young lord couldn't just roll over to Katagai.

"He may be in my territories and I need to know what he looks like. I don't want a mystery on my hands. I don't want this demon walking about my streets just because I don't know he is a fugitive! Now send me that information!"

Augustus conceded defeat and uploaded the files on his prisoner and sent them to the immortal lord. He then waited for Katagai to get done reviewing the documents. He saw Katagai look down as he began reading the information. Within moments Katagai's expression changed. His face paled and his good eye widened. Augustus noticed beads of sweat appear on the dark lord's forehead.

He didn't have time to contemplate this further before Katagai shouted, "You let this monster live?"

"As a pure blood, I thought we could use him to undo his entire race. We were just beginning to run experiments when–," started Augustus.

"Why did you feel it necessary to give him the linguist operation? What did it matter if he understood you are not?"

Now it was Augustus who was sweating as recoiled from the screen. "It is easier to control them if they understand you, particularly after they have been broken." It seemed so logical yet Katagai was outraged he had done this. The young lord was now not only frightened but confused.

"Well, was he broken?" asked Katagai more quietly than before having regained his composure.

"It is hard to say, he stopped fighting back but when the blackout occurred he didn't hesitate to escape." Augustus noticed Katagai staring down at his computer screen. The immortal lord laid his head on his fist and a tiny smirk twisted his face. The blonde lord wondered what he was looking at.

"I know this demon," Katagai said suddenly, startling Augustus.

"What?"

"I I _know /I _ this demon," repeated the immortal lord, his left hand stroking his eye-patch. "You didn't break him; he was just biding his time. I would very much enjoy seeing him broken, though."

Augustus wondered at Katagai's sudden change in attitude. 'He knows this demon? How? In what way?'

"You said something about experiments?" asked Katagai, glancing back up at the communication screen.

"Yes," replied Augustus, happy to talk about something other than the escape. "I was in the process of running experiments on the demon. Since he was an ancient demon, I believed he wouldn't have any human DNA on him. After all, the eradication of all demons is what you and I desire, I wanted to make a type of weapon that would attack demons only without affecting humans. My scientists have been conducting these experiments for a while but all our test subjects have some human in them and the experiments always failed because of it. I was hoping that a pure blood could point out the DNA common in all demons but that didn't exist in humans. At this time my scientists only have a few samples, not enough to run the complete experiment."

A sinister smile now graced the immortal lord's face and he began to laugh. "What an irony this shall be," he said. "Sesshomaru, one of the most powerful demons of his time and now the most powerful demon of this time, shall become the doom of all demons. Yes, we most get our test subject back before he learns how to exist in this world." Katagai began stroking his eye-patch again and whispered, "Yes, you must suffer, suffer like you never dreamed was possible. I will grant you unending pain, Lord Sesshomaru, not death."

Augustus shuddered and was suddenly very glad he was not the focus of Katagai's wrath. He even felt some pity for the demon that had become Katagai's newest obsession, but it was very little.

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Yeah I know it's short but I'm just glad I got it up at all.

My muse has been AWOL for a while now and this is only one of four projects I'm working on. That does not include what I do at random and not all of them are fanfics. Please do not ask me to abandon those other projects just so I can write this one because I will not do that. My original fictions have higher priority than a fanfic. However, I will try hard to update sooner, but I can make no promises. I am a senior in college after all.


	11. The Lord and the Captive Past

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takahashi has that honor. I do own all OC's in this story.**

**Chapter Ten: The Lord and the Captive Past**

Katagai terminated the communication link with Augustus, leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. Despite his calm appearance to the young lord he was, in truth, disturbed by the latest development.

'Yes, it would be an ironic end if Sesshomaru became the key to the demons' destruction. However, this is a key that burns the ones that clutch it. Subduing him will be no easy task,' he thought, narrowing his eyes at the ceiling. 'It may even be impossible.'

He closed his black eyes and thought back fifty-five hundred years to the night he battled Sesshomaru. 'He was arrogant, didn't think twice about accepting my challenge. Then again, if I wasn't what I am, there would be no way I could have survived that night. His arrogance was well earned; he was the only one able to scar me. Despite how one-sided that battle appeared it took everything I had just to overpower him. In the end I was only able to seal him away; I couldn't kill him.'

_"One day I'll get out of this and then your head will be mine!"_

He turned his head to the right and looked at the sword hanging on the wall. Tokijin glowed forbiddingly from the spikes it rested on. 'I have Tokijin and I can wield it as well as he could, but I would be a fool to underestimate him. The only good news from Augustus was the fact that until the blackout they had been able to contain him. However, even I realize what a shock this world can be for someone like him. He simply wasn't ready for it. The next time we meet he may be better prepared.'

Sitting up, Katagai sighed and stared at the computer console for a while. 'I really doubt we will be able to contain him again.' He snickered and thought, 'Though, it shall be fun to watch Augustus try to capture that beast. Who knows, he may even succeed and what fun we'll have once that happens!'

He felt the presence of another enter the room, though, the door never opened. He smiled to himself; he knew who had come. "You have been gone awhile, my dear, and now I know why," he said then turned around. Rin just stared at him with cold-expressionless eyes.

He rested the side of his head on his fist as he looked her over. Her arms hung limp at her side and her unbound dark hair cascaded over her shoulders and along her back. He disliked the patch-colored kimono she wore; a beauty like her should be dressed in finer things but the woman was stubborn. He could only force her to do so much before he grew exhausted and his hold on her faltered. She knew it too. She eagerly awaited his commands in order to resist them. Only then did she have any hope of breaking free. He knew that forcing her to dress to his liking would only result in her escape.

"You went to help your former lover, didn't you, my dear?" he asked, his voice soft. Again she only stared at him.

'If I command her to answer, she will only fight and it has been too soon since our last struggle to do that,' he thought, his dark eyes boring into her dead ones. 'I'll save the question for when I'm at full strength and in the mean time I'll let her roam where she will. She can neither speak nor manipulate objects outside my quarters; she has no way to communicate with anyone. She will watch, she will hear, and then she will tell me everything!'

He got up and strode toward the young woman. He stopped before her and reached his hands out until they rested on her shoulders. Then he pushed the kimono down slightly, exposing the pale skin of her upper torso. Bending his head down, he bit the tender flesh causing the young woman to gasp. He felt her begin to tremble and her hands finally rose in a feeble attempt to push him away. They both knew it was pointless. While Rin could resist his commands, she could not fight him physically.

An idea entered his mind and he stepped away from her, smiling. Rin was quick to pull her kimono back into place, but she continued to stare at him. Her expressionless eyes were now filled with hate; she had long since moved beyond both fear and despair.

He took her chin into his hand and said, "I just got an idea. I know what I'm going to do to Sesshomaru now. It will be perfect. While it may be rather cliché and others will probably complain about a lack of imagination, I think it will be perfect. Then again, I have always been fond of the classics; classic stories, classic beauties, and… classic twists." He breathed this last part into her face and she flinched back from him. She eyed him with suspicion as he turned around and walked back to the computer console.

Clicking a few buttons, the monitor hummed to life. There was only the briefest of pauses before it displayed the image of Katagai's top scientist looking slightly flustered but ready to please. Even to Katagai the man seemed more pleased with himself than usual. Wondering about it, he asked, "How goes the project, Doctor?"

"Well, my lord, it goes smoothly. In fact I am pleased to say we have finally got a live product that is working perfectly; even, I dare say, better than we could have hoped. I was preparing the report to send you when you called," said the scientist with a grin.

"This is most excellent news. How is the control chip functioning?" asked Katagai, his smile more malevolent than before.

"It seems to be functioning properly. I mean the latest one has yet to fail, but you can never be sure of these things. The will of humans and demons can still be considerable and they vary from person to person. In order to compensate for that potential problem I have made a device to compliment the chip that induces a state of sleep in the person whenever the chip is active. In essence they will be sleepwalking when controlled. My coworkers and I believe this will reduce the chance for resistance because the person will be in a dream like state," explained the scientist. His expression told Katagai that he was now worried the less than definite answer would be ill received.

The lord gave a soft chuckle and said, "May I suggest a test subject with considerable will?"

"Who might that be?" asked the scientist, his expression eager. Katagai was pleased the scientist hadn't asked him what the consequences would be should the test subject prove too strong for the chip. It meant the man probably had installed safeties that would insure any out of control experiments could be terminated within seconds.

"You shall find what you need in vault 39," Katagai replied his face splitting in a wide malicious grin.

"My lord! That's–!"

"I know! Be careful what you say, someone may be listening. Besides, if you are successful you will be handsomely rewarded. Oh, and take your time with it, I want you to do the job right the first time," said Katagai, then he killed the link.

He looked back at Rin and saw her hands cupped over her mouth and her eyes wide with horror. He smiled and stood up again, approaching her with slow deliberate steps. When he towered over her, he leaned forward and whispered, "That's right, my dear, I'm orchestrating a family reunion. Won't it be grand?"

"You devil!" she shouted, slapping him then vanishing.

Katagai laughed and cried to the empty air knowing she would hear him through their link, "What do you think you can do about it, Rin? What could you ever do to save Sesshomaru? You can't warn him and you can't stop me!"

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Weren't expecting that were you? Well, neither was I!

We finally get into the mind of Katagai, our oh so loathsome villain.

As to the pathetic sexual description which is causing me to up the rating for precaution's sake, I have to say the good girl in me just loves to hinder my ability to write such scenes. I can watch them, I can read them, I can visualize them, but can I write them? Oh no…

My precaution is due to the fact that whiners might decide a T rating is too low for even something as descriptively tame as that and I don't my story to get booted off the site. I don't think you want that either. So the rating is going up.

To all those who are wondering whether or not Rin really died:

Yes, she is dead.

Yes, she is a ghost.

No, I am not going to tell you why she has a physical body only in Katagai's apartments. That will be explained along with what Katagai is in later chapters.

For your convenience I have now added an update section to the bottom of my bio. So now you can know what is going on writing wise.

I enjoy reviews.

I enjoy knowing my work is appreciated.

I enjoy having it confirmed that people are actually reading and liking what I do.

To all those who have graced me with at least one review, here is my humble thank you. (I am doing this in hopes that it will encourage more reviews. I did the same for Forgotten's last entry and have only gotten one more review from a loyal return reader. I hope that number improves.)

EVilxSnare: Thank you for being loyal and my first reviewer! However, I must point out this is not an AU. This takes place some time after Naraku's death. But since I didn't know about Tokijin getting broken or Tenseiga getting a new power before I began writing this I decided to take a few liberties and say that didn't happen. Besides if Tenseiga had its new power it would have been way to easy to kill Katagai in the beginning. So everything will be in line with how the world was right after Kagura's death.

KeyToExistence: Thank you for being another long loyal reader and reviewer! I hope I never lose track of time so much that it ends up a year between entries. I hate it when other authors do it and I would hate it if I did it. As for how Koga, Shippo, and Jaken got to the modern era: they lived the five centuries. So no I didn't kill Shippo as a darling little kit. He was full grown when he got mowed down.

Liz: My anonymous but loyal reader and reviewer, my many thanks for being understanding in all things.

Ketsurui Chinoumi: Thank you for the review! I guess great minds think alike!

Starcommander: Thank you for the review!

Lady Kagewaki: Thank you for your loyalty and reviews! Katagai is going to be a villain worse than Naraku and twice as hard to kill. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Yami Pandora: Thank you for the review!

DraconWolf88: Thank you for the review!

Peeka-chan: When this story is through you can do whatever you want to Katagai. But I would be careful about bringing him back to life. We have death issues with this one.

Laughingstockstables: Thank you for becoming another loyal reader and reviewer. Yes, Sesshomaru is going to wield Tetsusaiga… If he recovers from his depression.

Rin's Faith: Thank you for your thoughts!

T. A. Skywalker: Thank you for the review! I know I already sent this to you, but for all the readers who are still wondering: I am fully aware of the long running debate on whether or not the fluff is his tail. At first I thought it was his tail too, but several things made me believe otherwise.

1) It is way too boneless; when it blows in the wind it is as limp and lifeless as a furry scarf.

2) In episode 35, after Sesshomaru got hit with the wind scar he was laying on his back in the forest with his fluff surrounding him like a pillow. In this scene you could clearly see both ends of the fluff on either side of him and it was no longer attached to his shoulder.

3) In episode 7 when he is fighting Inuyasha. He lassoed his brother with it but had his hand at the base of it to hold it then whipped around to throw Inuyasha into the ground. Dog tails are generally not flexible enough to lasso someone, monkey tails do that.

4) My cousin and I stared long and hard at Sesshomaru's back trying to figure out how that thing was attached to his butt. It was clearly only wrapped around his shoulder.

So my conclusion is: While the fluff does correspond with his mane in the transformed state, it is most definitely detached and not his tail. So that's my reasoning for not keeping the fluff. It wasn't attached and it wasn't needed nor wanted. I felt it would get in the way. Sorry to all those in love with the fluff!

Deviliscious: Thank you for the review! As for Inuyasha… I know something you don't know! Hee hee! And I can't tell you either because it would spoil it!

Now I hope to hear from you all again soon!

By the way, "Forgotten" is a prequel Inuyasha fic that stars both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru in the time before Kagome will soon be getting its third chapter.


	12. The Past and Future Conflict

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.**

**Chapter Eleven: The Past and Future Conflict**

Augustus turned to his general and said, "You have something to report?"

"Yes, my lord," said the man with a bow. "I believe we have located the true base of the rebellion. Our bug worked beautifully."

"Then go and bring me every last rebel's head! I want to display them where all can see!"

"Yes, my lord." The general turned to leave.

"Oh, and should you see a demon of snow hair and a crescent moon on his forehead, bring him to me alive. I have special plans for him."

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"Why did you abandon us?"

Sesshomaru stared at his brother as he yanked Tetsusaiga from the tree next to the dog demon's head. The hanyou was covered in blood – his own blood! – his golden eyes flashed hate and betrayal.

"I didn't…" gasped Sesshomaru then dodged to the side, the lethal sword splitting the air where his neck had been a moment before.

The dog demon had not the heart to fight his brother; he lost that urge when he had learned of Inuyasha's death. The hanyou sneered and turned toward him. Never before had Sesshomaru seen such naked hate on his younger brother's face. Never had he realized how much they both held back when fighting each other before.

Sesshomaru ducked another swing of the sword. "Inuyasha, please stop and listen to me!" he shouted, finding his voice at last. He had to make his brother hear reason! Inuyasha had to be told the truth of what happened! Sesshomaru couldn't stand seeing him like this.

They were underwater, the ground they stood on and the trees vanished without warning and Sesshomaru inhaled water. The same panic that had gripped him when he had awakened in the sea flooded him then. He looked up as he started to sink and saw the broken, clouded image of the moon on the surface.

He reached for it and felt hands grip his wrists. His gaze reverted to his brother's deathly calm face. The fire was gone, instead he already appeared drowned; except he held Sesshomaru's wrists with supernatural strength, even for a demon. Sesshomaru looked back up at the surface that was growing further away. He screamed but only bubbles flooded past his vision, the sound muted.

"Why did you abandon us?"

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Kira sighed as she pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail. 'Two weeks and he still hasn't regained consciousness,' she thought. She stood up and looked around the large garage. Demons of all types were readying the various assault craft for battle. Asamu had ordered a large strike against one of Dooku's bases and everyone was excited as well as nervous. Large strikes were rare, filled with danger but promised big rewards if successful.

Kira was about to start toward her assigned vehicle when a frantic motion caught her eye. She glanced to the left and gaped. The phantom was by the entrance tunnel running in circles and waving her arms like some insane bird trying to remember how to fly.

'The last two times she appeared she had used her presence to tell me something. I wonder what this is about,' thought the young woman and she changed direction and jogged over to the phantom.

The ghost stopped running long enough to look at her then started hopping while frantically pointing down the entrance tunnel. She turned when Kira got within a yard and ran down the tunnel. When Kira didn't follow right away, she ran back, stopped a yard in front of her, hopped twice, then spun around and ran back down the tunnel. This time Kira followed, the look of terror on the phantom's face saying far more than words could.

Kira stopped short of the pool of sunlight that spilled through the opening, the phantom had vanished again. Raising her arm to shield her eyes from the glare, she looked out into the daytime wasteland. At first she saw nothing but simmering dirt and the heat distorted horizon. Then something appeared out of the mirage, dirt flying behind it as it approached.

'What is that?' she wondered as she squinted into the blinding light. 'Was someone supposed to be coming in today?' Then the image split into several while becoming more focused. Kira gasped in horror. A score of assault craft were heading straight for the base and all of the rebellion's attack vehicles were inside being prepped. Worse the approaching vehicles were splitting to surround them. They weren't just passing through; the base was the target!

'It's an attack! They found us!' her mind screamed. She whirled and flew down the tunnel.

Reaching the nearest intercom, she hit the alarm then shouted into the mike, "Battle stations, we have twenty incoming assault craft! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is no–" The piercing whistle of a missile was her only warning before the ground exploded behind her, throwing her several feet.

Ignoring the pain of the landing, she scrambled to her feet and ran into the garage as another missile tore out the wall where she had been standing not moments before. The explosion knocked her down again and she only had time to cover her head before the first assault craft flew above her. The wind of its hover engines driving her further into the ground. She rolled to the side just as another flew into the garage. The force of its passing slammed her body into the wall and she crumpled to ground.

She looked out through blood streaked vision and saw the enemy open fire on the vulnerable demon attack craft; several exploded throwing metal, missiles and demons in every direction. She heard the sharp report of rifles as her people returned fire, even the boom of a bazooka followed by the deafening explosion of one of the enemy assault craft, before she blacked out.

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Asamu raced down the hall as several of his men ran up to him, terror etched into their faces. "General, all our exits have been cut off! We can't evacuate the non-combatants!" shouted Chris, his black feline tail fluffed out and standing rigid.

"They are already in the main garage! The fuel has been ignited, it's completely engulfed in flames!" cried Aaron, his body hunched, prepared to fight or run depending on what happened next.

"We can't fight them down here! We've already lost half of our battle craft!" shouted Jason, fire zipping around his form.

Asamu swallowed and shoved his fear and uncertainty into a small corner of his heart before answering. "Have they gotten to the tunnels?"

"No, they haven't, they still aren't aware of them," answered Aaron, a little calmer than before.

"Get everyone and as many supplies as you can into the tunnels and prepare to permanently seal them," Asamu ordered.

"What about…" The fire demon's question died when he saw the pained expression in the general's green eyes. They all raced to do as ordered without another word.

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Sasami stood among the other children, frightened by all the explosions and the panic of the adults. The twelve-year-old dog demon clutched her treasure box to her as she rocked on her heels. Her little white dog ears twitched at the sound of another explosion, they were getting closer. The group stood outside their transport vehicles, a transport that wasn't moving was as good as a death trap. The escape tunnel rumbled with distant battle, the cause of their failed departure. A kitsune woman ran up the tunnel as bullets flew past her.

"Run!" she screamed as she ducked behind a vehicle and began firing back. Several humans in black body armor and helmets ran up to the entrance and opened fire. Sasami and the children fled screaming, bullets flying past them, some hit and small forms tumbled unmoving to the ground.

Ducking around a medical transport, she started screaming, "Help! Someone help! Please! Brother! Sister! Help!"

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_"Help!"_

Sesshomaru blinked in the murky darkness of the water.

_"Someone help!_

'Who…?' he wondered, but his thoughts moved like sludge. His mind was starved for air.

"_Please! Brother! Sister!"_

He tried to move his arms but Inuyasha's death grip held. It seemed like too much effort for the dog demon and his mind began to drift into darkness once more.

"_Help!"_

_Tasukete! Sesshomaru-sama!_

'Rin!' The world around him shattered like glass at the name. Light slammed him and he surged to his feet. Pain shot through him as the IV and tubing tore from him in the violence of his motion. The oxygen mask slipped sideways and he tore it and the rest of the monitoring equipment from his body. He heard the popping sounds of guns and the screams of children coming from outside. Not caring about the consequences, he lunged for the door, tore it open and charged into the battle beyond.

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tasukete: help!

Okay! For those who don't recognize it, the scene where Sesshomaru is battling his brother is a nightmare. As stated by Kira in the next scene he is still in coma.

Next chapter is fully written, but I'm less than satisfied with it and will be going over it to see how to make it better before putting it through the review process. That chapter will most likely be the last update in the 2005 year. I probably won't be able to write or post until I return in the spring.

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You people are so nice. You continue to leave me lovely reviews. I don't have to yell or threaten to get a single review like at the other site. fumes over lack of reviews at alternate site

Blazer: Hush, hush! You may draw conclusions from what I say but please don't spoil the story! By the way, it looks like I forgot to mention that whatever is hiding in vault 39 won't appear until much later, hence the "take as much time as you need" quote from Katagai in the previous chapter.

Deviliscious: Hah hah! Sorry to say you won't find out what is in vault 39 this chapter or next chapter. As I said to Blazer, you aren't finding out for a while yet. Got to get Sesshy established first.

EVilxSnare: Yup, I know you got the story on your list. I've been very happy to hear from you!

Laughingstockstables: Yes, not only is Rin a ghost, that was established well before now, she is also a prisoner of Katagai! Can't tell you how because that will ruin the story!

Keytoexistence: Glad to see you back, I was beginning to wonder what happened. No, I never said Rin was invisible to the outside world. What I said was that she could neither speak nor manipulate items outside of the room, meaning she had no way to really communicate effectively. It's like an illiterate mute; communication is limited to body language. No, I'm afraid that if this was capable of becoming an original fic, it would already be one. I'm an author who writes both original and fanfictions and the original mentioned in my bio, A Princess Among Wolves, is an evolved Inuyasha fic. Sorry, as much as that would be fun to turn it into an original, I'm afraid the story is too dependent on people's knowledge of the Inuyasha series. If it became original then I would have to create the whole backstory adventure that is hinted at in this story and that would change a lot more than a few names and appearances. But I am writing a fanfic that could become an original if names were changed; "Forgotten" is largely independent of the series even though it's a prequel. That will become more obvious as the story progresses.

Speaking of which, for those of you interested in Forgotten, it will most likely not get a new entry before mid-January. I will try to update both stories during winter break, but I make no promises.


	13. The Past and Future Collision

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.**

**Chapter Twelve: The Past and Future Collision**

Sesshomaru landed on the ground outside the medical transport, a bullet narrowly avoiding tunneling a hole through his forehead. The screams of children surrounded him as did the din of battle, so akin were the sounds to his nightmare that the images began to superimpose. His mind replaced the incomprehensible with visions he understood. He no longer stood in the middle of an underground garage surrounded by transports vehicles; he was in the grassy fields with great boulders strewn about.

Only half aware of reality, he turned toward the sounds of gunfire and focused on the human warriors that attacked from the entrance of a canyon. A female kitsune fired back but she was only one versus many and badly injured. The humans shot into the crowd of children that dashed behind boulders, some falling to never rise again.

_Tasukete! Sesshomaru-sama!_

'Rin!' He looked around but couldn't find her. Partially relieved, for it meant that she wasn't among the unmoving children, he turned his attention to the humans causing the destruction and danger. He charged forward, moving so fast he appeared no more than a ghostly blur to all. The humans never knew what hit them. His energy whip sliced through flesh and metal. Poison sprayed from his claws devoured skin and muscles, the humans died slow, agonizing deaths.

Within moments the tunnel was quiet save for the echoes of battles from other areas. Drawn to the sounds of fighting, he quickly left the bewildered, surviving children behind and raced down the tunnel, destroying whatever human foolish enough to impede his progress.

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The rubble from the missile barrage hid Kira from the attackers and spared her a beheading while she lay unconscious. However, when consciousness returned, she witnessed the decapitation of friends and comrades. Unable to move, she could only continue to watch the gruesome scene and pray that unconsciousness claimed her again.

The sound of panicked soldiers drew her attention to one of the inner tunnels. Men fired back down the tunnel they fled from, but the guns seemed to have no effect on whatever pursued them for several heads flew from necks, blood spraying into the air as bodies toppled to the ground. Kira blinked her eyes clear then gasped when Sesshomaru appeared at the tunnel entrance. Blood oozed from a number of wounds on his naked torso, but they didn't seem to hinder him. In an instant, he gained on the retreating men and slashed them to pieces. He threw out a hand and others fell away screaming from the green mist shooting from his fingers.

'So this is what the Lord of the Western Lands of Japan can do,' she thought in awe, feeling hope return. She sobered when she saw the human general and his men take aim at the battling demon. Determined to stop him, Kira shifted and felt her hand brush against her gun. Ignoring the pain in her chest and the blood trickling out of her mouth every time she exhaled, she drew the weapon and braced her arm on the twisted rubble around her.

The general, focused on Sesshomaru, had his back to her, an easy target. She sighted down the barrel of the semi-automatic and pulled the trigger. The explosion of the gun rang painfully in her ears, but she had the satisfaction of seeing the shocked look on the officers' faces as they turned to see their leader fall. They glanced back and she fired again; the head of the man on the right exploded. The second officer, weapon drawn, was taking aim at her when she fired a third time. He went down, a fountain of blood gushing from his chest.

A fourth shot reverted her attention to the battle just in time to see Sesshomaru crash into the ground; the sniper accomplishing what machine guns had not. Blood stained the back of the dog demon's pants on his right thigh. The surviving humans cheered and took aim. Kira raised her gun, but there was no way she could kill them all before the human soldiers rained death down upon the immobilized demon. 'No! Not like this! Please, not like this!'

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Asamu and his men entered the evacuation garage, his heart falling at the sight of the tiny bodies. He ran among them looking for his younger sister and was surprise when children appeared from around vehicles, frightened but alive.

He didn't have time to ponder this small miracle or look for Sasami as Aaron called to him. He turned toward the wolf demon and noticed a medic treating a female kitsune, but what Aaron gestured at was what drew the dog demon's attention. Human corpses, slashed and partially melted, littered the tunnel entrance.

"How did this happen?" whispered Asamu as he looked at the wolf demon's stunned expression.

The sounds of gunfire echoed down the tunnel catching his and Aaron's attention. Turning back to his men, he shouted, "Chris! Get these children out of here; if I don't come back leave without me."

"General!" cried the feisty black cat as Asamu ran toward the battle. The young dog general and several others raced down the hall.

'What the heck is going on? Who was able to overwhelm those soldiers?' wondered Asamu as he ran. An image of the collapsed dog demon his sister had returned with flashed through his mind. 'Could it… Could it really have been _him_?'

They broke into the new garage just as a new sound met their ears, the sound of cheering. Coupled with the sight that met them when they entered the garage, it chilled their blood. The entire area was littered with twisted, smoldering wreckage, decapitated demons and mangled or partly dissolved human corpses. He glanced toward the cheering and saw surviving humans coming out from behind the wrecked combat vehicles. The humans held up their guns and took aim at something out of sight. Asamu didn't need to be told who they were going to shoot.

Enraged, he shouted, "Slaughter them!" The demons opened fired. The humans looked up, shocked, before they fell to a hail of bullets. Those not taken in the first wave scrambled to seek shelter. Another gunshot echoed from somewhere behind the rubble causing the demons to dive behind destroyed combat vehicles. Looking for the source, they saw a body topple from the rafters, a human body.

'Sniper!' he thought in horror and anger as he dashed around the wreckage to get a clearer shot at the surviving humans. He turned the corner and saw a human woman, badly injured, standing at the base entrance. Then he recognized her.

"Kira!" he shouted. She stood in the open, completely exposed, her gun pointed to the ceiling. Blood leaked from the sides of her mouth and oozed from the gashes on her arms and legs. Despite the wounds, she seemed calm and was even smiling. Then several bullets tore through her chest and she toppled backwards, her gun slipping from her now lifeless fingers. "Kira!" he screamed.

At the same time a terrifying howl shook the rafter and the humans cried out in terror. A few more gun shots sounded then silence. No more screams. No more gun shots. No more shouting. The battle was over. The humans were dead.

Asamu slowly crept around the twisted metal. The demon his sister had brought, the one he had wanted to get rid of, stood among the human bodies, shirtless and bleeding from several wounds including one in the back of his right thigh. 'How can he be standing?' Asamu wondered.

He turned away looking over the carnage around him. "Aaron," he whispered and the wolf demon stepped up beside him. "Go back and tell Chris that we can take our time evacuating the base."

"Yes, General," Aaron replied in as soft a voice as the young dog demon then ran off to fulfill his orders.

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Asamu held the lifeless body of his sister in his arms. The battle over, the survivors were now performing the grisly task of clean up. The part of the garage the wreckage had been cleared from was lined with the dead. The human dead were dumped unceremoniously into a pile in one corner while the demon dead were laid out side by side. The young demon general placed Kira next to the other corpses, still dazed by the destruction and its shocking conclusion.

Sasami stood off to the side weeping for her sister and dead friends, her little doggy ears lying limp against her skull. While not everyone was capable of weeping tears all were crying inside. The losses were devastating. More than half of the army had been wiped out along with nearly their entire arsenal; though, the arsenal seemed rather minor by comparison.

'We can always steal more weapons, we can never replace the lives that were taken,' thought Asamu, staring at his sister's pale face. Sesshomaru stood off to side, the only one who didn't appear affected. Many glared at him then looked away when they remembered he was the reason why the death toll wasn't higher.

'I wonder if he is capable of feeling grief anymore. What a thought, I don't know if I should be envious or pity him now,' he thought, looking at Sesshomaru for a moment before returning his attention to his dead sister. 'He seemed to gain his second wind when Kira died and thus was able to slaughter the remaining humans. He must have cared.' He brushed the brown bangs from her forehead.

"My katana," said Sesshomaru without warning. Though no one had been speaking, the silence seemed more profound than before as everyone turned to look at him.

"I need my katana," he said but still no one moved.

"I wonder if he means those swords he had when he first arrived," whispered Aaron to Asamu.

In the silence even a human would have heard the wolf demon's comment; it wasn't surprising when Sesshomaru turned toward him. "Yes, my swords are what I need, particularly Tenseiga."

Despite the oddness of the request, no one protested. Aaron sighed, got up, and said, "I'll get them." He trotted off; within minutes, he returned with the two ancient swords. Sesshomaru walked over to him, bearing only a slight limp, and took the swords from him. He then moved over toward the dead. Laying one down, he drew the other, a pale, elegant blade. As the dog demon raised the sword above the rows of dead, Asamu suddenly became concerned for his intentions, as did everyone else.

"Hey, wait a minute! What are you– " started the young general. Too late, the sword slashed the area above the dead and a blue light shot out of the blade and engulfed them.

Cries of protest and alarm filled the chamber as demons jumped clear of the light. Then it vanished and all could see the bodies were unharmed. Everyone stared at Sesshomaru, baffled, until the dead began to move. They moaned, sat up and looked around, dazed and confused.

Asamu didn't know what to think until he saw Kira stirring. 'Impossible! She was dead! I know she was!' he thought in horror and awe.

She opened her brown eyes as he knelt next to her. "Hey, Brother, did we get 'em?" she asked.

"Oh Kira," he whispered, his eyes filling with tears. Then he embraced her and kissed her cheek.

Sasami ran over, crying, "You're alive! Sister, you're alive!"

Across the garage others shared in the joy of this strange miracle, filling the chamber with sounds of laughter. Asamu looked over to Sesshomaru; he was once again detached from the emotional scene. He sat against the wall holding the sword that had brought about this wonder to his chest, the other lay forgotten at his feet, his eyes hidden behind his snowy bangs.

'Thank you!' he thought to Sesshomaru and whatever gods that had allowed the demon to find his way here.

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Sesshomaru was oblivious to the cheering. Once more, he was embraced by the cold waters of the abyss, his brother's accusing words ringing in his ears.

"Why did you abandon us?"

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Tasukete: Help!

Katana: Long sword

Okay! Last chapter until at least mid-January! Of course, if I lie you'll be thrilled. I also realized I passed the first-year anniversary of this story. Jeez, one year already and I'm still in the introductory chapters. shakes head I don't see the pace changing anytime in the future because graduation is coming up then I have to look and participate in internships and graduate school. sighs I will attempt to not blow off writing these four weeks since it might be the last free time I have until retirement. cries I don't want to grow up!

I'm actually not sure what to do in the next chapter so it might take longer to update this story than four weeks so suggestions would be nice. NO! I will not bring up the vault until later! That comes after Sesshy has been established in this world not when he is still trying to work things out.

To those who haven't realized it, I have placed an update section at the bottom of the bio so you can know what writing projects I'm working on. I'll try to update it at least once a week.

Now for every reviewing reader's favorite time… the acknowledgements.

SquirtzMegz: blinks at familiarity of name then shrugs Here's your update! Thank you!

Cyndi: I'll probably be hearing from her before she even reads this since she just started reading the story and left the review on an earlier chapter, but… Thank you and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

Deviliscious: You want me to do more bad stuff to Sesshomaru? Well, if you insist… chuckles evilly

Blazer: I did not say spring, I said mid-January. Instantaneous updates, you and me both.

liz: Well, since I have so many crying I'll try to update sooner, but every time I promise to write over holidays I never do so I won't promise anything. :-)


	14. Jewel of the Past

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.**

**Chapter Thirteen: Jewel of the Past**

Sasami dug underneath her seat for her pack as the transport she rode rumbled along. The army had only just abandoned the discovered base. With the human squadron all dead, the demons had taken more time to pack everything and make sure none of the vehicles had trackers planted on them. Once everything was ready, the officers had planted explosives throughout the complex and then transports had headed out. A few remained behind to set off the devices once everyone else was safely away then they would catch up.

The little hanyou didn't know where they were going and was both nervous and excited. But right then, she was furious. Her pack was missing. Some of the other kids thought it was great fun to take her stuff and then watch as she ran around trying to find it.

"Darek!" she yelled. He was usually the one behind these games.

"What?" asked the panther demon, sounding annoyed.

"Give me back my stuff!" she said while stomping around the row of chairs to face him. She glared up at the boy who stood over a foot taller than her.

"What makes you think I got it?" he asked, but smiled when he finished. His smugness infuriated her more.

"Cuz you always take my stuff," she replied, balling her fists at her side. "Now give it back!"

"Say, 'Pretty please'," he said, grinning.

Sasami straightened up, held out her hands, batted her eye lashes at him and said, "Pretty please, give me back my stuff, Darek."

"No," he said and started laughing when her face turned red with fury. She tried to attack, but a hand on her forehead held her at bay. Other kids starting laughing, causing her anger to rise even further. She screamed and yelled and tried to knock his hand out of the way, but he blocked her attempts with the other one. Tears of frustration began to fall down her face and Darek made snide comments about that.

"Awe, has Sasami had enough? Is the little baby needing her big brother to come help her?" he asked in a cooing tone.

Sasami doubled her efforts to get at him when a deep voice asked, "Is this what you were looking for?"

The little dog demon turned around and looked up. The cabin was suddenly silent as everyone stared at the tall dog demon before them. He wore army boots, blue jeans, a white shirt and a fur lined jacket. Two weapons of a type Sasami had never seen before rested on his belt at his left hip. Two pink stripes adorned each wrist and graced each cheek. Golden eyes stared in hers and snowy locks cascaded over his back and past his waist. A purple crescent opening to the left sat in the middle of his forehead and peeked past his bangs.

Sasami thought she recognized him, but couldn't remember his name. Then something more important caught her eye. In his right hand he held her pack. Squealing with glee she reached for it and said, "Thank you for finding my pack!"

Without saying a word, the demon gave the bag to her. Eager to check to see if everything was still there, she set it down on the seat and opened it. She pulled out her clothes, her journal, her pen, her doll, and a flat, tin box. Since it was the box Darek and his cohorts like to raid, she opened it to make sure all her "treasures" were safe. She pulled out several pretty stones, a dried flower, a wallet that had belonged to her father, and a necklace her mother once owned.

Sighing with relief that everything was there, she didn't notice when the demon reached over and picked up the necklace until she saw it rise past her face. She squeaked then meekly asked, "Can I have that back, please, sir. That was my mother's necklace." The pink beads grew in increasing length as they neared the main jewel, which was a perfect pink sphere that seemed to glow.

He stared at the necklace, seeming to be only mildly curious except that he held onto it a long time. Then he whispered, "How strange for it to be pure after so many millennia." He turned back to Sasami and took hold of her hand as he knelt in front of her. "Don't lose this. It is more important than you can imagine, young one." He then placed it in her hand and closed his around both of them.

Sasami stared at him, baffled for a moment, then he stood and glared at the kids who had been teasing her earlier. The expression was filled with icy malice and the kids sank into their seats as if attempting to shrink from sight. Then the demon turned and walked away.

There were a few moments more of stunned silence then the people in the cabin began to whisper.

"Who was that?"

"I think he's the demon Kira brought with her."

"Wasn't he the one who killed all the humans with only his claws?"

"Yeah! And he had this weird magic sword that brought the dead back to life!"

"Isn't he crazy, though?"

"I heard he collapsed in the main garage after making a huge fuss at nothing."

"I heard he is some sort of ancient demon!"

"Yeah! From a time when humans were slaves of demons!"

"Yeah right! That never happened!"

"Did too!

Sasami felt stunned as the kids continued to argue and talk around her, their voices slowly growing louder as their confidence returned. She looked down at the jewel in her hand and thought, 'Has he seen this jewel before? What is this jewel? Why is it so important?'

She remembered her mother putting the jewel in her hand just like the golden eyed dog demon had. Her mother had been barely alive and fading fast from injuries sustained during a purging.

"_Sasami!_ _Take this and never lose it! You must protect it with all your heart and soul! Please don't cry darling, Mommy loves you! It's okay, Mommy doesn't hurt anymore. Please darling, never hate and listen to your brother and sister! It'll be okay! Mommy loves you!_

"Mommy," whispered Sasami. She sniffed and rubbed away new tears. 'It is important because Mommy told me to protect it, but why is it important? She never told me why!'

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"So where are we headed, Brother?" asked Kira as she stared at the viewer.

"Where else can we go but Hong Kong?" said Asamu without opening his eyes.

"So we are going to hide in a run down, half flooded, city of criminals. Feh! I guess beggars really can't be choosers." Kira gazed out at the empty waste before them. They heard the faint sound of thunder then everything was silent again save for the rumble of the transports. "There went the base," she said in a dull tone.

"Still can't believe you were dead?" asked Asamu.

"More like I can't believe I'm alive," replied Kira with a sigh.

"Did you find anything out about those swords of his?" Asamu asked this time looking over at her.

"I only know that they were his father's swords and that one of them originally belonged to his brother. A brother who was killed during the Great War five thousand years ago," replied Kira as she put her hands behind her head. "And that it is possible Katagai is directly responsible for his brother's death."

"You told me this Higurashi shrine is against the human government and that Katagai is not human."

"Yeah, Katagai was the one responsible for starting the war and he was responsible for sealing Sesshomaru away all those millennia ago. There's no way he could be human."

"He must have spun some clever tale to get the other humans to accept him. But this is also problematic for us. If someone as powerful as Sesshomaru, who wiped out so many in that squadron as easily as swatting flies, was beaten by Katagai then that means we are in serious trouble."

"We may have to rethink our plans when we go after Katagai, but there is no avoiding the conflict. Especially not for Sesshomaru."

Asamu sat back and silence reigned for a minute. "There is some good out of going to Hong Kong. We refresh our supplies, our numbers, and our training."

"Training again," said Kira and laughed. "You are going to get a lot of unhappy people."

"I don't care; we need to tighten up more, and besides, our new recruit needs to learn how to fight with more than just his claws and swords," said Asamu then smiled mischievously at his sister.

"Just don't get yourself killed, Brother."

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Finally, a new chapter to New Dawn, but it's more of a "catch breath" chapter than action. I'm probably going to be picking on Sesshomaru in the next one, but I'm not exactly sure if that's what's going to happen. Remember I'm trying to bring him into this group and have him change without it happening overnight.

Recognition time!

Deviliscious: In his mind he is trying to save Inuyasha and Rin, that's why he revived all those people, especially Kira. Try to remember that he is no longer fully sane.

non-Christian: Here's your update and I'll try to figure out the next chapter before too long.

lord tatsu: Glad you like it.

SquirtsMegz: Yeah, Mediaminer can be annoying, but I found some fics that are unique that place so I can't just leave.

laughingstockstables: Sorry to freak you out. I wasn't going to have her get killed but the story demanded it for drama's sake.


	15. Moonlit Conflict

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone else from the hit anime/manga series Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.**

**Chapter Fourteen: Moonlit Conflict**

Ocean waves crashed against the shore and among the ruins of skyscrapers, many having succumbed to the sea's power long ago. Twisted metal encrusted with blue mollusks jutted out of the water in the moonlight. Sesshomaru stared at the sea, expression impassive but his insides twisting. The moon hung low in the sky, fully lit. The orb appeared as if someone had taken a hammer and struck it, a great gash stretched across its face. The dog demon felt the moon reflected everything about this world and his life in its mangled appearance.

"There you are," called a female voice. Sesshomaru glanced back and saw Kira approaching him. When she drew even he turned back to the moon and the sea. She stood there in silence alternating between studying him and the sea he intently studied. A sea breeze tickled their hair, causing it to wave and ripple.

"Your sister possesses a strange necklace… Do you know what it is?" asked Sesshomaru, breaking the silence. Kira glanced at him but he still stared at the sea.

"An heirloom from our mother," she said with a shrug. Kira had never thought of the simple pink crystal sphere as strange. Cheap costume jewelry that the humans didn't care enough about to steal from them but never strange.

Sesshomaru turned to look at her before asking again," But do you know what it is?"

"Sesshomaru, it has sentimental value, that's all," she replied, exasperated. "Why do you want to know anyway?"

He turned away before answering, "Just curious." The dog demon was certain of jewel's identity, but couldn't be sure of whether that information was safe to pass on. Kira seemed to be honestly ignorant to the it's identity.

'After all the trouble with Naraku, it would be foolish to just tell anyone about something as potentially damning as the Shikon no Tama,' he thought. His mind flashed unbidden to his brother who had once sought the jewel so he could become a full demon. He closed his eyes but the image would not leave.

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Asamu stood on the ruined streets, tense and restless. His green eyes flickered up and down the road. Soon several figures in shadow appeared and approached him.

The leader, a young dog demon with short, wild, orange hair; flashing red eyes; and two red stripes on his cheeks grinned. "Asamu, my man! How ya doing?" He shook the young general's hand vigorously. "It's been ages since I saw ya. The army life still working out great?" The demon snorted and the other three with him snickered. Asamu forced an uneasy smile.

"We've hit a few rough spots recently," he replied.

The leader laughed and said, "So that's why ya'all are in town. Gotta hide 'til the heat blows off." The smile didn't fade but the teeth vanished as he took a more serious tone. "The way I hear it, Asamu, your rebellion suffered a major defeat. Nearly lost all your weapons and ya'all looking for some replacements to get back to business, eh?"

"It's great that you keep in touch, Dune," said Asamu the smile now painful. Dune smirked and flicked the collar of his vest with his thumbs.

"Man's gotta be connected if he's gonna run a business." He glanced around then looked back at Asamu. "Where's your sister at?"

"Where ever she is," replied Asamu with a shrug.

"Oh come on, don't be like that, man," said Dune, leaning closer to Asamu. "You know I gotta say 'hi' whenever she's in town. I don't get to see her when ya'all out in the Waste."

"Hey Dune, there she is," called one of his companions. Asamu looked up and saw Kira walking toward him, her eyes stared ahead and she seemed unaware that she was approaching Dune and his cronies.

Dune immediately turned around and, while walking, cried, "Hey Baby! Long time no see! How my girl been doing?" Kira jerked in surprise, glanced behind her like she expected to see some other female he was talking to, then picked up her pace. "Where you going, Baby?" asked Dune, moving to cut her off.

"I am not your 'baby'!" snapped the young woman, attempting to dodge around him. He caught her arm and pulled her closer.

"Why do ya have to be like that?" asked Dune in a whine. "You know how much I miss ya." He leaned closer to kiss her.

"Dune, let her go. Se doesn't want to be with you anymore," said Asamu caught between wanting to protect his sister and needing to stay on Dune's good side.

He pulled away from her for a second. "Nah, you don't feel like that do ya, Baby? It would be a real shame if ya did," he said, turning back and stroking her cheek. Asamu flinched and choked on a growl. Kira stared at him in defiance.

Before Kira could say anything, Dune was ripped from her arm and flung across the street. A tense silence filled the air as Dune pulled himself to his feet all smiles gone, glaring at the one who'd sent him flying.

"Baka ga," said a deep, soft voice.

'Shit!' thought Asamu and his sister's visibly wide eyes screamed mutual sentiment. Sesshomaru stood next to Kira calm and cold as usual, his gold eyes fixed on Dune, oblivious to the consequences of his actions.

"Who are ya to be throwing me around? Don't ya know who I am?" demanded the fire haired demon, placing his hand on his chest.

"Should I?"

"Guess not, fucker," said Dune, a poisoned smile splitting his face before he drew his gun, shooting several rounds at the white dog demon. Kira yelled and Asamu leapt toward Dune but too late to stop him from firing. Sesshomaru snapped his hand, summoning his energy whip and deflected the deadly rounds. (Sesshomaru's reflexes unnerved the young general a great deal who hesitated in his leap, dazzled by the display as everyone else was.) Then white dog demon was suddenly in Dune's face with only a blur to betray the movement and crushed the gun, hand and all. Dune howled as Asamu drove himself between the two and forced Sesshomaru away. Kira ran up and helped pull the feudal demon further back. Then, with a nod to her brother, she coaxed Sesshomaru to join her as she walked toward their temporary residents.

Dune growled in pain, his face flushed in rage, his cronies standing around with their mouths hanging open. "Whose bitch boy is that?" demanded Dune in a hiss.

"New recruit," replied Asamu dully. "He's the reason why the casualties of the last battle were so low." Dune glared at the young general. "He saved many lives that day including Kira's." He thought it unwise to relate the whole truth of the matter to Dune. Dune didn't sell them out because they did constant business with him and because he liked Kira. However, he was sure that if he learned about Sesshomaru's escape from Augustus Sesshomaru might suddenly disappear back into the tyrannical man's hands.

"We'll discuss our business tomorrow," stated Dune then he and his cronies melted into the night. Asamu sighed, his feelings a mix of guilt and apprehension.

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Sooooooooo Sorry!

I know have been awful about updating this one. Not only was my muse put to sleep in the months before and following graduation by I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to proceed. The long wait has halted the gears for this story and it's going to take some time to get them oiled and moving again. Hopefully this will start the process again.

Yes, Dune talks that way. I tried hard to catch his accent. It's real hard to write incorrectly on purpose.


	16. Lost Miko Found

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story and there are quite a few.**

_If this doesn't inspire some sort of reaction from my readers, I'm going to throw Sesshomaru back into Augustus' torture chamber._

**Chapter Fifteen: Lost Miko Found**

"_A Miasma!"_ screamed a young kitsune, clutching a twin-tailed kitten. A whirlwind rose around Katherine and her friends, saturated with a pink gas.

"_Fools!_ _You can all die in this sea of poison vapor,"_ caroled a dark voice. She could just detect the satisfaction in his tone. A young woman, dressed in pink and green and bleeding from many wounds, pushed herself up from Katherine's lap and pulled a mask from her blue sash. She leaned toward a boy in a black and green leotard, kneeling on the ground and placed the mask against his face; the sad smile never leaving her face despite their impending death.

Katherine saw a glow in the boy's back and thoughts filled her mind. '_I know! Naraku has jewel shards!'_ She rose to her feet and glanced around until she spotted the same glow shining through the wall of poisonous wind.

"_Naraku!_ _Take this!"_ she shouted as she drew and released an arrow. The head glowed and pierced the swirling vapor. An explosion echoed throughout the open area; the wind died and the air cleared of all traces of the noxious fumes. In the place where the shaft had parted the wind, a man in blue and purple stood, stunned, his right arm gone.

"_Naraku!_ _You are totally despicable. Now die!"_ she cried, anger burning through every limb in her body. The man stared at her in bewilderment and she thought she saw a touch of fear enter his dark eyes. She drew another arrow and took aim. "_I will never let you go, even if you beg for forgiveness!"_ she shouted and sent the arrow flying. The steel head ignited once more in mid-flight. When it reached its target it paused, hovering before her enemy's chest.

"_This is exactly the same as Kikyo's enchanted arrow! Don't tell me this girl is…"_ Even at that distance she heard his alarmed mutterings. He grabbed the shaft and threw it away, then his body exploded leaving only a head floating in the air. Pink wind swirled around him and he vanished.

The gales threatened to blow her away; she struggled to hold her ground when a hand gripped her shoulder. "_Kagome!"_ a male voice yelled in her ear. She barely heard him through the howling wind.

A second man shouted to another, "_Hold on to her, Shippo! Don't let go!"_

The woman's distressed voice carried to her. "_Kohaku!_ _Kohaku!"_ Katherine was pulled to the ground. The man lay on top of her, shielding her from debris with his body as the building around them disintegrated. "_Kohaku!"_

**BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!**

Katherine jumped with a suppressed yell at the sound of her alarm clock then shook her head; the dream slow to fade. 'Again?' she thought as she rose and pulled a robe over her nightgown.

Her room was large with spring green walks and leaf stencils along the top of the walls. Sheer curtains hung across her single window. Across from the window was the door leading out to the rest of her family's home. On the adjacent wall were two doors; one leading to the closet the other to her own private bathroom. In the space between these two doors hung a solitary picture of her family; her father, mother, and three brothers. On the wall opposite them was her dresser and vanity set complete with mirror.

She walked to the vanity mirror and stared at her disheveled figure. Her raven hair hung down her back and obscured part of her face. Chocolate brown eyes glittered from behind the strands. Bending forward, she picked up a comb and began untangling the worst of the knots.

'These dreams have plagued me ever since I was little. My parents thought I had some psychological issues and took me to a doctor. I ended up in a mental ward for three years until I learned to lie about having them.

'At first, they were sweet dreams of life in a time and place so very different from today. But since I turned fifteen, they have intermingled with nightmares. It's so strange. Demons are vermin, they deserve everything they get. Yet… in my dreams… I make friends with several demons. That young man seems so important to my dream-self. Like he was special no matter how annoying he was.' She put down the comb and leaned on the table.

"Friends… with demons. Maybe I am crazy." She whispered, nails digging into the tabletop. She stood up straight again and stared into the mirror. "How could someone like me be friends with demons? Who is this Kagome that I become whenever I close my eyes? Who is the real me?"

She turned away from the mirror and walked toward her closet. "I can ponder the meaning of 'truth' all day, but I have a ball to prepare for," she muttered as she pulled a form fitting green gown from its hanger. "This will do to satisfy my mother and all those slobbering men she'll be showing me off too." She gazed at the dress then threw it onto a nearby chair.

Pulling her nightgown off and letting it drop to the floor, she stepped into the shower. 'My dreams aren't the only nightmares I suffer,' she thought as hot water streamed over her pale frame. 'Mother is determined to find me a husband for my sixteenth birthday. How I hate it!' Katherine slammed her fist against the dark blue tile.

"I hate being shown off like some precious gem," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Nobody cares about me. I'm just the lord's daughter. A prize! A step up in the ranks! The string to create a blood tie between Lord Augustus and whomever he chooses to bless!" Grimacing, she pulled her hand back and turned off the water. She left the shower and toweled herself dry. In minutes she was fully dressed.

The emerald gown hung to the floor and the sleeves extended to her wrists. The neck line was square and low, but not to point of indecency. Golden leaves and vines outlined the borders and a gold sash wrapped her waist and hung down her left side to the floor. Matching slippers graced her feet.

Pinning her tiara in place, she thought with a sneer, 'I'm not a woman; I'm not even a human!' Looking at herself in the mirror again, she stared at her reflection seeking the young woman of her dreams in her appearance. 'I wish I could sleep forever. At least this "Kagome" didn't have to worry about being married off.'

Turning away, she stared at the picture of her family. 'If I'm not considered human by my own family then maybe it isn't such an evil thing to be friends with a demon.'

8888888888

Katagai moved across the room like water between rocks. He had noticed Augustus earlier, but the lord turned away and the man felt his comrade was hiding something. 'Bet it concerns capturing Sesshomaru,' he thought. Many of the guests at the party were conversing about their daily lives, an insignificant topic to Katagai and so he declined joining in. As he walked he spotted Katherine, Augustus' daughter. This was the first time he'd seen her beyond Augustus' family portraits. He had read her medical history, despite her parents' attempt to bury it, and found it interesting.

The young woman wore a painful smile as she pretended to be interested in the story a man twice her age was telling her. 'Looks like this fair maiden is in need of rescuing,' he thought and, wanting to speak with her anyway, walked toward her.

"Excuse me, Baron, I have some business with the young lady," he interrupted smoothly. The man glared, but upon recognizing Katagai backed away without fuss. Turning toward the surprised girl, Katagai offered his arm and said, "Now, shall we talk somewhere less crowded."

"Most certainly, my good sir," replied Katherine and took his arm. The pair headed out to the balcony garden.

"I heard you once had dreams of 'another life' when you were younger," said Katagai. The young woman tensed next to him, but didn't stop walking. She gazed up at him, her eyes searching. Sensing the problem, Katagai continued, "Unlike your foolish parents, I don't believe they were caused by insanity. I believe they are memories from a past life."

"Why do you think that?" she asked, her slight form relaxing.

"In ancient times, people believed that reincarnation was common. Unless you achieved enlightenment you would eventually be reborn. Most of the time, though, the reincarnated soul would carry no memories from its previous life into its new one. There have been exceptions, however."

"You believe these dreams are memories playing themselves out while I sleep, like a movie?" Her voice was filled with disbelief.

"You dream of walking out under the open sky in broad daylight, of trees and birds. Things that don't exist in our day and age you dreamed before ever being told about them. That is my proof," Katagai said. The lord was certain Katherine still had such dreams, but had wisely stopped talking about them.

'I need to know her dreams so I can know who she is,' he thought as he gazed at her. 'I must tread carefully; one wrong step and she'll deny she has them still.'

"Was there really a time where humans and demons hailed each other as friend?" she asked, her voice low and almost bemused.

"I only know what is written in books that survived the apocalypse. But some do speak of rare friendships between our two worlds," he replied.

'She's opening up. She just needed a listener who wouldn't judge her mad,' he thought as he watched her, his expression conveying slight interest and curiosity.

"I'm not human," she said with a bitter smile. He blinked in surprise. "You will think me strange for saying this, but my family says this with their actions. I'm not human; I'm an item, an accessory. They say it is unnatural for humans and demons to be friends; that demons are the enemy of humans for all eternity. That nothing will be right until demons are destroyed. But I'm not human, so why should I fear being friends with demons; they aren't human either."

Katagai remained quiet, interested in what she had to say and where it might lead them both.

"I want to be friends with demons, but not just any demons. I want my demon. My precious demon who protects me from everything and everyone. The one I bound so long ago. The one that loves me no matter what, but is too afraid to say it. He loved me when I was Kikyo, he loved me when I was Kagome, he'll love me even though I'm now Katherine because our souls were bound together for all eternity. If he were here I could leave my family and live how I want, not how they wish it. I'd be a true woman, not some accessory to be shown off or sold off."

She laughed softly and pierced Katagai's dark gaze. Raising an eyebrow, she said, "You must think me mad now. Your fault for telling me what I dream was once real; a lost past."

Startled, he didn't say a word at first then he smiled, "Your father wastes you on alliances easily made with paper and wax alone."

'The miko is _mine_!'

8888888888

It has been way too long!

Still brainstorming the mini-plot involving Sesshomaru and Dune. This chapter was primarily written as a stall tactic but I think it'll be fun. In fact this may make the cyborg arc even more fun.

…

Did I just give a vital piece information away?

Oh well, enjoy!


	17. The Bounty Hunter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's and plot in this story.**

Chapter 16: The Bounty Hunter

Augustus stared across the table at a woman. He had to leave his residence and secure grounds to meet with her, not something he would have done for anyone else. However, she was no ordinary woman. Aetna sat with her feet propped up on the table and a bored expression on her face. The lord couldn't stand her but she was the best at what she did. And what she did was seek bounties.

No bounty was unattainable for her. If the head had a high enough price she claimed it. Usually, all one need do was place a bounty and she would get to work; meetings like this one weren't necessary. However, Augustus didn't want his problem with the ancient demon to go public. Bad enough there were rumors flying a bounty would only serve to confirm them.

"Let's not waste time. There is a job that I believe only you can perform," said Augustus, glad this was a person who cared nothing for formal greetings and flowery introductions. The less time he spent in these common areas the better off he would be.

Aetna lowered her legs and leaned forward onto the table. "I prefer frankness. For an esteemed noble, such as yourself, to come to such a seedy place to see me. I assume it has something to do with that breakout that occurred some time ago? Or does it concern the rebellion that soundly defeated your surprise attack?"

Augustus flinched; it seemed everyone had their ears inside his information network. "The breakout, though, I can't be certain the events aren't unrelated," replied the young lord. Aetna raised a deceptively delicate eyebrow. Augustus slid a chip over to the bounty hunter and waited while she brought out her reader to view it. The image of the escaped demon appeared as a miniature hologram.

"You want me to go after this? I don't work for chump change," she said leaning back.

He turned and raised the briefcase he brought with him and set it down on the table. "Five-hundred-thousand jewels, half paid in advance, to bring him back alive," said Augustus in an even tone as he opened it. Thousands of jewels of various types glittered in the yellow lamp light.

Jewels were the highest form of monetary items that existed in the world. One-hundred coppers made a silver, one-hundred silvers made a gold, and one-thousand golds made a jewel. Most of the world paid for things in credits but that was all digital information that was constantly being recalculated as the economy shifted and changed. Jewels, golds, silvers, and coppers were constant. Currently the credit exchange was one-thousand-fifty credits for a copper. Aetna refused jobs that were paid in anything less than gold.

Aetna inhaled slightly, the only chip to appear in her composure, at the announced bounty and the sight of the jewels in the briefcase. She leaned forward again but her eyes glinted with suspicion as they turned to regard the lord. Demons were credit bounties, never before had they been raised to copper level. To offer any jewels never mind that amount was mind boggling.

"You'd spend this much on some measly demon that broke out of your facilities? What exactly did he do?" asked Aetna, her skepticism obvious.

"That is none of your concern. I'm paying 500,000 jewels for that demon to be caught and brought back alive. Not to be questioned," snapped Augustus. Aetna stared at him for a moment then suddenly she was next to him with her steel claws tickling the underside of his chin.

"Part of how I catch my bounty is doing research on them. You are posting a tremendously high bounty, I've only had three other bounties comparable to that, and yet you wish to withhold information. I am not so stupid. If I know nothing on this bounty then I'm not taking it. And since you are coming here to tell me of this bounty in person, I can assume you don't want the word to get out about how badly you want this demon. If you want me to go after him, you have to give me information. Understand?"

Augustus swallowed and looked into her eyes. Her expression was unreadable. "We don't have a lot of information on him," he finally answered. "He's some kind of ancient demon. He was found by divers in the Japanese reef and was accidently freed from his seal. There is no telling what he is capable of. Some of my men believe he is with the rebellion now. That is all we know."

"Feh! Looks like I'll have to go elsewhere for my research on this fellow, then," said Aetna. She closed the briefcase, picked it up then turned and walked out of the room they were in. Augustus let out his breath then glared in the direction she had departed.

*****

Aetna strolled up to her vehicle, an old model assault hover craft from the last century. She had found it near the start of her bounty hunting career in a garbage heap. It had taken nearly a year of reconstruction before it was even usable. Heavy modification had followed and now it was her signature ride. Dark violet with crimson tones in the crevices, a heavy assault cannon was mounted on its back and a two stun guns adorned each side. The nose contained a cannon that fired nets. The back seat had been changed into a holding pen, completely cut off from the front seat. There were chains for tying up and restraining the person with in and a powerful electric jolt could be administered to the cell if the occupant created problems.

She wondered if it would be enough to trap and contain an ancient demon.

"Heh! Aetna! What you got there?" called her personal mechanic and partner from atop the vehicle. Edward was a blonde skinny kid who was an absolute genius when it came to everything techno. He had always been the type to be picked-on in school. Joining her had been an escape from the many bullies that lurked there. He had been the one largely responsible for bringing the old veteran craft back to life.

She held up the briefcase and replied, "Our latest assignment. I want you to check and see if they're real. That lord smelled fishy to me." She tossed the case up to him and Edward grinned.

"A personal bounty?" he asked.

"He paid half up front for the capture and return of this escapee," she said and adjusted her reader so that it showed the demon full-sized.

"A demon?" Edward's voice held the same skepticism as hers.

"Check the case," was all she said.

Edward opened the case and yelped. "This is half?! What-what the heck is this demon for him to be paying so much and in advance?"

"The client didn't have much info to give. The only thing he knew for sure was that this is a demon from the ancient world," said Aetna re-examining the image now that it was enlarged.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning we will have to take our time and not spend a single jewel until he has been delivered. If this proves impossible, we'll have to refund our advance," said Aetna. "I don't care how much he offers. Money's no good if you're not alive to spend it."

* * *

What I find so disgusting about this story and its apparent popularity is that I never really took this one seriously. I started writing this as a promise to my cousin to write something staring Sesshomaru. This was born from watching way too much Gundam whichever (Seed I think is the one I was watching at the time) and listening to .hack/sign music.

All I can say to readers is you are damn lucky I'm feeling burnt out on Forgotten at the moment. This one doesn't have a mapped ending. I have only the vaguest idea of where this is going; making going from point A to point B very problematic at the moment. And while I have been thinking about Forgotten for the last two years so was able to get back into the rhythm of it without mishap; New Dawn was ignored for that entire period of time. I literally had to reread my own story just to remember what was going on and get back into the feel of it.

This story was started before I learned Tokijin's fate never mind the rest of it. So This is going to be as if everything that occurred after Kagura's death never happened and yet Naraku was still defeated and Shikon Jewel reclaimed. In fact when I started writing this Movie 3 was still only available to watch with English subtitles.

Now, the bounty hunter was character my cousin designed and thought super cool. She had drawn the character just to see how detailed she could make it. I asked for her permission to use her character and got it. Her account is on and she is socialdissension.

I'll bet at least three reviews get added to this soon after I post this chapter.


	18. It's All Business

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's and plot in this story.**

Chapter 17: It's All Business

Shots filled the air at the practice field. The target received several new holes but none of them hit the red bulls-eye. Sesshomaru glared at that first then pulled back the hand gun and turned his murderous gaze on it. The gun seemed like such a simple device to use but he hadn't hit the mark once. Then there was the nose it made when fired. Even if with mufflers over his ears they continued to ring.

"Stop glaring, Sesshomaru," said an exasperated Kira. He looked up at her. She stood adjacent to him and wore similar mufflers. Her dark eyes bored into his as she continued, "Marksmanship isn't something you learn overnight. It takes time to learn how to use the gun. There is a whole bunch of little factors that have to be taken into account when shooting in order for the shot to hit the mark. And if you think this is hard try shooting at something that is moving while you're moving."

Sesshomaru stared at her for a second longer then changed his clip and turned to fire on the target again. Kira shook her head and returned her attention to her target. She can understand his frustration but he needed to learn patients. She was just glad his episodes had dwindled over the few months here. Still, it was going to be a long while before they could trust him with a weapon on the battlefield.

This part of his training, though, wasn't nearly as exciting as his driving lessons. Kira cringed when she remembered they were after target practice. She was certain she was losing decades off her life every time she climbed in the car with him. Sesshomaru had never had to control anything mechanical before and their hovercars, forget the assault vehicles, had sensitive controls. She was amazed the poor hovercar they were using to train him had only gotten a few scraps to its paint since he started driving it. It seemed the only one with quicker responses than the car was Sesshomaru. Poor Kira had lost track of the number of near crashes they had. Worse, Sesshomaru was of the opinion that as long as the car didn't crash he was doing just fine. Kira had tried to remind the powerful demon that she wasn't nearly as resilient as he was when it came to serious injuries. Sesshomaru's response:

"That fact has little meaning as long as you remain uninjured."

And he continued right on with his insane way of driving. Kira didn't think she could take another round with him.

"Yo! Baby! What ya doing later?" called Dune as strolled passed the other shooters toward her.

Kira swore under her breath and said, "Nothing that concerns you."

The orange-haired dog demon grabbed her shoulder and pulled the reluctant girl toward him. Kira's dark eyes flashed as she pushed on his chest, attempting to break free. "Yar brother says ya free right now," said Dune with a big toothy grin. "So I guess ya free to be with me."

Kira really hated her brother at times like this. Asamu had to stay on Dune's good side whenever they were in Hong Kong. Kira had never liked the dog demon. She would never have even entertained him in the past if Dune hadn't taken a shine to her. She had been his woman only to make things easier for the rest of the rebellion but she had never regretted a decision as much as that one. It private Dune was a much different person. She had never told her brother all that went on between them. She didn't know what she would do if Asamu knew everything and continued to behave like this.

"I'm afraid my brother was misinformed. I have driving practice with Sesshomaru after target practice," she said. The former demon lord's kamikaze driving seemed far less terrifying compared to what would happen if she went with Dune.

Dune turned slowly to face the snow-haired dog demon as Sesshomaru continued shooting into the target. He was either oblivious to Dune's presence or making a point of ignoring him as he had been instructed by both Kira and Asamu. "Who needs ta practice drivin'? The cars drive themselves these days. All ya need ta do is say, 'go'," he drawled. The goons with him snickered. "Let's go, Baby." He pulled her away and took her gun from her hands. "Everybody knows ya don't need practice shooting."

"Dune!" she cried, pushing on him in a vain attempt to escape. She could already see it was going to be one of _those_ nights if she didn't get away. Others saw but hesitated to interfere. Dune ran the place and the rebellion was his guest. Asamu had made that clear on numerous occasions. Yes, at times like these, she really hated her brother.

****

Sesshomaru ignored what was going next to him, even though he really despised the orange-haired dog demon and was sorely tempted to put the insufferable demon in his place. Asamu and Kira had both stated he was to leave Dune alone. So, despite Kira's obvious discomfort, he turned the other cheek and continued practicing his marksmanship. However, in his mind he now placed Dune's mocking visage in the place of the target. By the time the clip was empty again, he had much more satisfactory results. Three bulls-eyes and the rest surrounded the red dot.

He turned but Kira was gone but his nose, dulled as it was by all the gunpowder in the air, still detected her fear scent. Sesshomaru stared at the space Kira had been, thinking. Dune seemed able to do whatever he wanted. To Sesshomaru, that meant this place was Dune's territory and what Dune wanted Dune got. For the rebellion to remain here they had to give something in return. In this case, Asamu was giving Dune his sister, or her body at least. Sesshomaru could understand that. It was a tribute between allies. It was simple, cold business. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and a low growl escaped him. He wondered how long this rebel army was planning to stay in this place. He couldn't wait to leave.

****

Kira stomped down the street the next evening, high strung from the pain-killers she had swallowed a half-hour before. _I can't keep doing this!_ thought Kira nearly in tears. _Asamu has got to find another supplier. He keeps procrastinating because of Dune but he needs to look for someone else. I can't keep letting that beast have his way with me. Forcing me to play out those humiliating fantasies of his, it's too much!_

Deep in thought, she didn't see Sesshomaru until she slammed into him. She glared up at him, he didn't even blink. "What's your problem?" she barked. The dog demon raised an eyebrow but other than that his expression remained the same, emotionless. "Cold bastard and clueless too!" she snapped and she moved to step around him.

"A cheap price," he said suddenly. She froze mid-step and turned her head to regard him. He didn't even look back as he continued, "Usually these arrangements are more permanent." Sesshomaru then walked away. Kira turned all the way around and stared at him as his words sank in then she laughed, a hollow sound with no humor to be found in it. Sesshomaru wasn't unaware of her plight, he just didn't see it as wrong, unlike the many others in the rebellion, because this had been an accepted practice in the world he had left behind.

****

A few days later, Sesshomaru climbed into the hovercar for his driving lessons. Since no one but Kira was brave enough to involve themselves with the ancient demon, his driving practice had been put on hold until she found some free time. She had spent the last few evenings in Dune's company. Kira was relieved that Dune had been called away to deal with something elsewhere in the city.

Asamu had disappointed her again by refusing to look elsewhere for a supplier. He believed this was as good as it was going to get for them. Kira felt hollow and defeated. Her brother felt terrible about the situation she was in, but it didn't help her plight at all as long as he chose not to do anything. She was now convinced that even if she told him everything it would do nothing to change her circumstances. She might as well spare him the nightmares. She sat in the passenger seat and wondered if this would be the day Sesshomaru would lose control and crash. The thought was slightly appealing.

Sesshomaru climbed into the driver's seat and glanced over at his supposed instructor. "Does he suck souls, as well?" asked Sesshomaru.

At any other time, Kira would have been thrown by his question. Not now because she didn't care to understand the comment. "Shut up and drive," she said in flat voice.

Sesshomaru didn't. He stared at her for long time then asked, "Do you desire my pity?"

"Shut up and drive."

"If you despise being a pleasure slave then kill him and be done with it," said Sesshomaru as he turned the vehicle on.

Kira lunged at him, grabbed him by the collar of his leather jacket and shook him. "If I could do that this wouldn't be an issue!" she shouted at him.

Sesshomaru met her smoldering gaze without flinching and asked, "Can't or won't?"

Kira blinked then released Sesshomaru and sat back; caught between rage and despair. "This isn't a question of whether I can kill him but should I kill him. We can only work with outlaws and renegades and some of them would turn on us if it benefited them. Dune is the only one we can really count on at this time."

"Because of his attraction to you," stated Sesshomaru. "You walk upon thin ice."

Kira glared at him and said, "Shut up and drive!" As the car sped down the street the young woman felt, strangely, calm, her anger and despair vanishing in the face of revelation. _Sesshomaru maybe a pitiless bastard from the past but he still has a point. If Dune grows tired of me, what's to stop him from turning on the rebellion?_

Kira's eyes widened as she thought, _What's to stop him from taking me and selling out the army if the right price is offered?_ There were no answers available for Kira right then.

*****

"There he is. The biggest bounty in history," said Aetna as she peered through her binoculars at her target as he climbed into the hovercar with a human female. She saw the pair argue before the car drove away.

"Da guy drives all funky but he ne'er crashes. Da bitch-boy has got some super reflexes. Just remember that I want da girl at the end of this. I gots no problem it lettin' ya have da bitch-boy just give me da girl. Then you can go back deliver da bitch-boy get da reward. I don't even want any slice of da pie," said Dune from where he stood next to her.

"That's because you have your eye on another pie. Why settle for a slice when you can get a whole one for yourself? Once the girl is safely stashed away you'll turn the army over to Katagai and collect the reward through one of your human contacts. That's your kind of pie, a sweet lemon murrain," said Aetna peering at the orange-haired demon. Dune was grinning at her. "Don't feel bad betraying your friends and fellow demons?" she asked though she thought she already knew the answer.

"Pssh! It's all business. Keepin' the army on as a partner doesn't look nearly as profitable as sellin' 'em to Katagai. I always planned to do it. I was just waitin' for the stocks to rise higher before selling 'em. Augustus nearly stiffed me with his attack. Da way they are now, if I don't cash in now I'll lose my investment," he said with a shrug without losing his grin. Aetna smiled, she understood that kind of business.

* * *

I know this seems to wander a bit but I'm really happy with where it ended up. I wanted to introduce conflict between Dune and Sesshomaru but I thought it too soon for him to be getting all jealous and over-protective of Kira. The next chapter shouldn't bounce so much.


	19. Capture

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone else from the hit anime/manga series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's and plot in this story.**

**XXX! ****THERE IS A SCENE OF VIOLENCE TOWARD WOMEN AND RAPE AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER! THIS WARNING WILL BE REPEATED WHEN THAT SCENE BEGINS!**** XXX**

Author notes: I know it isn't like me to put author notes at the top but since the last scene is one some readers might what to avoid reading I decided to place the end notes up here so they wouldn't have to skip down.

**!!Those of you who read it please tell me if you believe it is too strong for this site! The administration doesn't give you a chance to correct your mistake before they boot you off if accidental violate one of their rules!!!**

Silver-head angel and Daiymo no Taisho thank you for reviewing. I know I went a long time without updating anything. I wasn't even sure I was going to even get back to this one.

I finally have an ending in mind for this story so I now actually have an idea of where it is going. Something I didn't have before, particularly two years ago.

Next chapter: Sesshomaru is going to kick-ass and do so with his shirt on, sorry girls, while remaining mostly sane. I think… ;-)

Chapter 18: Capture

The ride of endless thrills came to a climatic end when the vehicle finally lost control. However, even Kira recognized the sudden jerk and dip of the hover car as a sign that it wasn't the fault of Sesshomaru's poor driving skills. One of the four hover engines whined and exploded while they were driving down a thoroughfare, a straight path that even Sesshomaru could manage without threat of death. The corner dropped and the vehicle began spinning as the dog demon struggled in vain to control the damaged car. It careened into a building and Kira wasn't sure if it were luck or skill that allowed the rear of the vehicle to hit first. It would have been the end of them had struck head-on. Once it crashed, it dropped nose first to the ground.

The hover car groaned as it tipped forward and Kira barely registered the lethal fall before Sesshomaru grabbed her around the waist and leapt clear. It fell twenty feet to the ground. The nose crunched up and the whole then flipped onto its back crushing the passenger compartment. Sesshomaru touched down as light as a feather thirty feet from the vehicle as it burst into flames. He didn't put Kira down as he looked around.

Kira wondered if she should be protesting his holding her; especially since he was holding her like a sack. Sesshomaru's tense expression changed her mind. She glanced around as well but saw no one. His senses were far superior to hers so she patiently waited for him to do something. She didn't want to distract him if it turned out to be a threat. Kira didn't believe the car had spontaneously failed.

Sesshomaru jerked without warning then collapsed. Kira yelled as she dropped to the ground. She rose and turned toward the dog demon and gasped; four metals barbs were imbedded into his neck. Other than a few twitches from his fingers and eyelids he didn't move at all. She pulled her gun from its holster ready to do battle with the attacker but froze when she sensed someone step behind her.

"I didn't know how your body would react to the stun barbs and since I'm not supposed to kill you I didn't shoot you," said a female voice. A hand struck her in the back of the neck and she fell to the ground unconscious. The last thing she heard was the woman's voice as it continued to speak. "This seems to be enough to keep you from causing any further trouble."

****

Aetna stared down at her prey. She had been uncertain in sabotaging the hover engine when it went by. The dog demon was worthless if he was dead and she had promised Dune the woman. However, the dog demon had performed well in saving himself and the female. She had had to take her time when aiming the stun gun; the dog demon had been on guard from the moment he left the vehicle. She knew the slightest mistake would tip him off to her location and something told her it would not be a mistake she would survive. Still it had gone well. She had her prize and soon Dune would have his. She raised her radio and called Edward. Her young partner soon appeared with her assault craft and landed next to them.

"You got him!" cried Edward. "I got worried when I saw the smoke."

"His extremely agile and quick," she replied. "Toss me the restrictors, the strongest set, make that two sets! I don't want to be surprised by him."

"Sure thing, Aetna!" said Edward then he dove into the storage compartment and began digging through it. "How about a constrictor as well?" he asked, his muffled voice coming from within the hovercraft.

"Perfect," replied Aetna, leveling her stun gun on the dog demon in case he started to stir. She didn't know how long he would stay under. The cast majority of her equipment was for capturing humans not demons. Edward brought the required equipment out and walked toward Aetna. She holstered her gun and took the restrictors.

The restrictors were thick cuffs that were bound together. They wouldn't allow a person's hands to be tied behind them but it electrocuted the prisoner if they tried to break or tamper with them. They would only release with the proper fingerprint from the owner. The shock wasn't enough to kill but it was designed to be extremely painful. The charged increased the longer a person fought with it and every new shock was the same as where it ended. Thus it adjusted for a person's pain resistance. It could also be manually set by the owner if the prisoner was already understood to be very resistant to pain. The cuffs would then adjust from there.

Aetna placed one set on the demon's wrists and the other around his ankles. He wouldn't be able to walk but he also wouldn't be able to run. She set the charge to maximum believing he would be very resistant and not wanting him to break the restrictors before they could adjust on their own. When worn in pairs like this the restrictors could signal each other. If he tried to break one pair the other would shock him as well. She then picked up the constrictor.

The constrictor was a more torturous device that she used only in extreme cases. It was an item that was used in sync with the restrictor. It had two loops; one that strapped around the neck, the other strapped around the waist. Connecting the two rings was a flexible spine that ran alone a person's spine that bent and moved with them. Attached to the spine were branches with colored circles at the ends. When placed on a person the colored circles would fall over certain spots along the prisoner's back. The constrictor had no power source of its own but when a restrictor was set off it absorbed the electric charge. Then that charge would power the circles which either burned or drilled into the prisoner's back. The wounds were never deep but the pain they caused pacified the most determined of prisoners.

Aetna knew how well it worked on stubborn human bounties but not on demons. Demons were notoriously pain resistant and she had a feeling this one might be more so than most. _I'll just have to hope this will hold him until I can deliver him to Augustus,_ she thought as she placed the constrictor on to the unconscious demon.

"Now let's give this girl to Dune and be on our way," said Aetna. She dragged the dog demon to the vehicle and tossed him in the specially modified backseat and chained him to the floor. Edward dragged the young woman and put her in with him after tossing the gun away and patting her down for more weapons. They closed the compartment then hopped into the front and drove away.

****

The first thing Sesshomaru noticed when he regained consciousness was that his movement was severely limited. The next was that Kira was lying on top of him not moving at all. He heard the irritating hum of hover engines and wondered where he was. He didn't like how things looked or felt. The floor shook and the engines fell quiet. They had arrived at whatever location they had been heading to.

He tried to move again and failed. He knew the feather weight Kira was not responsible for his lack of movement but couldn't figure out what was. The ceiling opened up and three faces appeared in the moonlight as well as their scents; two humans and one irritatingly familiar dog.

"Hey, looky there, da bitch-boy is awake," said Dune.

"I didn't hit the female with anything beyond the side of my hand. She should be fine. Interesting that he woke first when he was hit hardest," said the brunette human woman.

"That's okay, it woulda been a big problem if she had awoken before I gots her back to my room," said Dune.

"Naze?" asked Sesshomaru as the red dog reached down for Kira. Dune blinked at him in confusion. "Why are you doing this? Wasn't she submitting to you already?"

Dune grinned and pulled Kira out. He put her over his shoulder then patted her butt and said, "I haveta do it this way. She never woulda stayed quiet when her precious rebellion gets done in. You see, da army will soon be here for da rebellion but I don't know exactly when. She might be with me when it happens or she might not. I canna keep her for too long a time cause everyone know she is with me. But if she disappears like this no one will come lookin' at Dune's place for her and I can make certain she is away from da rebellion when they is attacked. Don't want my woman killed in the fightin'."

Sesshomaru sat frozen for a moment as he took in Dune's words then with a growl lunged at the treacherous dog demon. The chains holding him to the floor snapped without even slowing him down. Dune jumped back but Sesshomaru crashed to the ground, writhing in agony. His lunged had been registered as an attempt to break the restrictors on his ankles. He twisted and turned like a dying snake his mouth wide open in a scream that had no voice; both restrictors and constrictor firing off at full power. Thirty seconds later and the restrictors ceased their attack. Sesshomaru lay on the ground gasping, eyes wide. Burnt skin and cloth alone with blood wafted through the air.

"Ooh, poor baby, that looked like it hurt," said an unsympathetic Dune. He then snickered. He turned away and waved over his shoulder at the pair of humans. "He's your bounty, have fun!"

Sesshomaru growled and raised his head to follow the crime lord as he carried Kira away. He heard a snap above him and looked up to see the human female pulling on thick rubber gloves. He growled at her as well.

"Fight your restraints again and the same things will happen; this is your only warning," she said. She then grabbed his arms and dragged him back into the vehicle and dumped him unceremoniously in the back compartment. "Now I'm going to have to spend some of the money on replacing those restraints." Sesshomaru only half heard her; his mind already trying to figure a way out of his predicament even as they sealed the compartment.

****

Asamu stared at the wreckage in disbelief as he people struggled to put out the fire. _Did I make a mistake? Should I not have let him handle any of our hovercraft when he came from an era lacking in machines?_

He didn't have time to ponder further when someone ran up to him calling his name. "General! We found something!" Asamu looked over and gasped. It was Kira's gun. Her scent soaked the grip marking it distinctly as hers.

"Where did you find it?" he asked. The wreckage held no scent of burned flesh though they wouldn't know for certain until they put out the fire and lifted the twisted metal to look within the passenger compartment.

"About thirty feet that way," said the young man as he pointed away from the crash site. "There wasn't anything else," he added as an afterthought.

"Thank you, please continue with the cleanup and search," said Asamu taking the gun from him. He turned away as the young man saluted then left. _No bodies and her gun is by itself as if it had been dropped. What is going on?_

XXX****XXX

**WARNING! VIOLENCE TOWARD WOMEN AND RAPE!**

Kira struggled with the handcuffs that bound her wrists to the bed posts. A bandana was tied across her mouth, preventing her from speaking. Her legs were free but that didn't help; there wasn't anything to kick. Her clothes had been changed while she had been unconscious. Instead of her olive, long sleeved top and kaki vest and pants with combat boots, she was wearing a pink backless top with matching fabric tubes on her arms, purple form fitting pants with bling belt and platform knee-highs. Her hair had been taken out of its tight ponytail and framed her face with its dark locks.

She originally awakened unrestrained and with Dune stroking her cheek, but it had only taken a second for her to realize why she was there instead of dead or captured by her unknown assailant. She had jumped to her feet and tried to run out the door. Dune had caught her and the two had fought. She had managed to plant a platform sole straight into the horny dog's crotch doubling him in pain then lunged for the door. She was able to reach it and turn the knob before the crime lord had recovered and tackled her. He had then dragged her back to the bed and threw her on it. When she tried to rise again he jumped on top of her, pinning her. He then proceeded to handcuff her to the bed and gag her.

"Now, don't you go nowhere, baby. I gots some business to oversee but I'll be back," he had said then left the room.

Remembering Sesshomaru's words from earlier, Kira felt cold fear run through her body. This was the day Dune would betray them; she was certain of it. _I have to get out of here! I have to warn the others!_ She pulled and twisted until her wrists bled but the cuffs refused to give. _If I were a proper demon these wouldn't hold me!_ she lamented.

The door opened and she froze, Dune appeared and grinned at her. She did not like that gleam in his eye. "Now why couldn't ya have just stayed still like a good girl?" he asked, shaking his head. She glared death at him, an empty threat. He laughed, closed the door and then proceeded to undress. She blanched and her struggling began anew.

"Now don't ya get like that, baby," he said, now down to his slacks with the top button undone. He walked over to her and leaned over her. He put his hand through the side of the backless shirt and rubbed the bare breast beneath. She swung her leg at him but the angle was terrible. All she ended up doing was tapping his back with her knee.

He gave her breast a squeeze then withdrew his hand. He then leaned even lower and placed his lips against her cleavage and licked; his tongue snaking around each breast and lapping up the sweat that had gathered there. She shivered and inhaled sharply. "Ya still so very sweet," he whispered as he lifted his head to meet her gaze. He reached over her and unlocked the handcuffs.

The moment her hands were free she slapped him across the face. His head didn't even turn to acknowledge the slap. Instead he picked her up and turned her until she was face down on the bed with her legs hanging over the end. She kicked out but he had moved himself to the side away from her thrashing legs. One hand pushed down between the shoulder blades keeping her trapped against the mattress.

His free hand reached underneath her to the belt buckle and undid it. He then brought his hand back up, grabbed the back of her pants, belt and all, and pulled down until it was down at her knees. Her legs tangled in the tight fabric and she couldn't kick anymore. He rubbed her naked butt, admiring the pale flesh. His had then slid to between her legs and patted the soft hair there then tickled the insides of her thighs. Kira shuddered and squirmed but there was no escaping Dune's grip. He stroked the cheeks one more time then pulled back his hand and slapped them with all his strength. The sound of flesh on flesh impact filled the room along with Kira's muffled scream. He spanked her thrice more then stopped to admire his handy work.

Red hand prints now decorated her butt and Kira gasped as tears slid unbidden down her cheeks. He stroked the inflamed flesh, tracing the red markings. Kira buried her face into the sheets. Dune had never done this before and she had no idea of what to expect next. When she had come at his request he played out fantasies that involved her being struck by cattails. When he had returned she had expected him to use them again. They were sitting by the bed and she was wearing the backless outfit that made it ideal for the beatings. The unexpected change scared her more than anything else.

Dune snickered and said, "I always did like your ass, baby. So smooth and firm and no blemishes ta displease da eye or da fingers." He squeezed her butt cheeks. "And now this ass is mine!" He spanked her again and again. "You ain't got nowhere to go now. That prick ain't comin' to save ya ever and the bitch-boy is on his way to a better place. Ya are all mine and ya goin'a learn some respect for your new master."

So painful were his strikes that she couldn't think about anything not even the fact his words confirmed all her worse fears. His bare hand brought more pain than the cattails ever had. The lash had stung and continued to sting for days afterwards but that was nothing compared to this. He had never struck her with full force before. When he beat her with the cattails he used nothing more than a simple flick of the wrist to swing the straps. She fought to push herself up but it was futile. His arm was unyielding. Then it stopped. She lay helpless on the bed, sobbing.

He shifted his grip and both hands came to grip her arms. "I've waited a long time to own ya," he muttered. "A long time of holdin' back and never gettin' all I want from ya because of that prick! I knew if I tried to keep ya all da time he would get ya and leave and never return. Never again will ya leave me pinin' for ya, baby!" She felt his body heat hovering over her and her heart skipped a beat. She could hear the hunger in his voice. His restraint before had been to keep Asamu believing Dune was content with things being temporary so he would keep coming back. Now there was nothing to hold Dune back. He had sold out the rebellion, as had been his plan from the start, she was his forever. Kira screamed in denial and despair, she had sold herself for nothing and everyone was going to die because they believed they were safe here. They believed her sacrifice was protecting them.

He leaned forward and his naked chest brushed against her bare shoulders. "Now it's time ta ride ya. Just try and buck me off!" he whispered in her ear. He then sank his fangs into her neck as he rammed himself into her, penetrating deep. There wasn't any hope for the small and human weak Kira to do as he suggested. All she could do was lie there and cry as he robbed her of her last shreds of dignity.


	20. Escape and Rescue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's and plot in this story.**

Chapter 19: Escape and Rescue

Sesshomaru's attempts to break free had become a repeating pattern over the days he was trapped in the compartment. He would slam the restrictors, either the ones on his wrist or the ones on his ankles against the wall, get shocked and drilled by them and the constrictor then lay there for several hours waiting for the muscle spasms to cease. Once that occurred he would start all over again. It wasn't getting him anywhere. It took only two hits before the restrictor recognized it was under attack and electrocuted him.

The pain all three contraptions caused wasn't anything he couldn't work through but the electricity running through his body shorted out his ability to control it. Unable to do anything but wait for the attack to end, he had plenty of time to just think about the searing agony he was experiencing. During these periods, his damaged mind returned to those agonizing weeks in Augustus's torture chamber, a place he was fast returning to. He actually contemplated tearing his own head off twice before as his thoughts dipped down into darkness. When such ideas entered his head he immediately resumed slamming the restrictors against the wall.

He lay still as he stared at his restraints; despite the abuse he had inflicted they showed not the slightest trace of damage. With his blood pooled around him, he began to doubt he would be able to escape at all. The dark crept in as despair took hold.

"Is this where it all ends?" he whispered to himself and closed his eyes. They were waiting for him in the dark. The dead Inuyasha, with his equally dead love held within his arms; both staring at him in silent accusation. He was sinking, already far beneath the waves, and he didn't care. He should have remained there. He had fallen so far yet was doomed to fall further, his personal quest unfulfilled.

"… _you sad excuse for a demon!"_

The voice belonged to his brother. He remembered when Inuyasha had said those words. It had been the second time he had crossed paths with the hanyou since Inuyasha had been freed from the spell.

"… _I had thought you might me weaker."_

This time it was Toran's voice. The turquoise haired feline appeared next to him along with her two sisters and brother. Then others appeared; Koga, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, Jaken. They all stared at him with accusing gazes.

"_Coward! And you call yourself a man! I misjudged you."_

Kagura; the wind demoness glared in anger at him, holes in her chest where Naraku had stabbed her after returning her heart. She had said those words back when he refused to help her destroy Naraku. Sesshomaru felt a stirring in his heart that he had thought lost months ago. An old fire, believed extinguished, smoldering within the deadfall of his soul.

With a growl he opened his eyes and shouted, "Kono Sesshomaru wa yowa_kunai_!" His demon aura poured out of him and he yanked on the restrictors with all his strength. Bolts of electricity coursed through him and his muscles contracted and released in uncontrolled spasms. He screamed but refused to stop, his demon aura controlling his limbs like a puppet. The constrictor burned and bored into his back, the blood pool grew. The metal walls began to dent outward under the pressure of his demon aura. The hovercraft jerked underneath him. With the grating sound of shrieking metal, both restrictors exploded along with the compartment.

****

Aetna didn't think much of her bounty's banging around inside the compartment. He had been doing so for days and he wasn't the first to make such a ruckus. However, she did wish Augustus had made this a more official bounty. She could have then dropped him off at the first Taibo city, a city under the control of Augustus's family, she came across, but because he had wanted it secret, she had to deliver the demon to his minions within his capital. They were a long ways from there.

Her apprehension was proven just when the seatback buckled forward. Edward jerked as his seat was knocked forward as well and the hovercraft dipped in response.

"What the fuck?" swore the boy. Aetna didn't have time to respond before the situation became worse.

Everything in the vehicle began to short out. Electricity arched across the control panel and Edward let go of the wheel and covered his face. One rear engine exploded into flames and the other threatened to do the same as it whined with strain and smoke trickled out of it. The craft's back end dropped down and its nose rose. Edward grabbed the wheel and twisted it bringing the nose back down before it flipped over. They needed to land, now! The young mechanic struggled to bring the assault vehicle to the ground as the craft bobbed and weaved. Aetna braced herself for the impact. They hit the ground and slid for a few hundred feet before it came to a stop.

Edward leaned against the wheel, unconscious. He had hit his head on it when they landed. Aetna turned to look at him then heard shrieking metal within the compartment behind her. There was no time to treat Edward; she had to restrain their prisoner. It was daylight outside but she had to risk exposure. UV wasn't immediately fatal. An escaping prisoner, on the other hand, was. She pulled her stun gun out and opened the sun shield then turned to face the rear compartment. She never had a chance to open it.

The hatch erupted; bits of metal shards flew up and out. One piece sliced through her face and destroyed her right eye. She cried out then there was her prisoner with a face to make the devil pause. She raised her gun but a swipe of his claws sent her gun and her right arm flying into the wasteland. She screamed and fell back, collapsing on the ground. Unconsciousness took her within seconds.

****

Sesshomaru landed on the ground next to the fallen bounty hunter but didn't spare her another look. The restrictors were gone from his wrists and ankles and the constrictor had lost its only source of power. He reached up and tore the neck ring in half then did the same for the waist. The constrictor pulled free of his back with slurp as the drills came out of his flesh. Bits of flesh fell with it leaving thumb-sized holes in his back. Still high on his heightened demon aura, his body healed within seconds. The burns faded to nothing and the holes filled in with pink flesh. Only his bloody and brunt shirt remained scarred in silent testament to his suffering.

Sesshomaru glared at the waste. He was days away from Hong Kong. He had an idea of how fast the hovercrafts could fly and he was certain they were actually faster than him even when he was transformed. He stared in the direction the tail of the craft was pointing. He had no idea where he was and the crashed vehicle was his only clue. He only hoped that when it was landing it hadn't reversed directions.

Summoning his power, his humanoid form melted and grew large, his face extended outward. He now towered over the downed assault vehicle in his powerful white dog form. He snarled at it then pointed his nose in the direction he believed would take him to Hong Kong and started running. Last time he had been concerned about being found and captured again. This time, drunk off his own power, Sesshomaru didn't care.

****

Asamu was in the midst of a dilemma. Kira was missing and now Dune had come to tell him Katagai's scouts had been spotted near Hong Kong. Ruined, though, the city may be, it was still impossible to hide an army with its carriers within it completely. If the army didn't leave now they would be inviting disaster not only for themselves but for those who called the place home. The locals could hide themselves from searchers but the city would be destroyed if the army remained.

"I hate to say it, but we might have to give them up as lost," said Kelsey, her eyes sad.

Asamu growled and thought, _Curse you, Sesshomaru! This is all your fault! If you weren't here this wouldn't be happening._ He turned toward the fire cat, his expression cold, and said, "You're right. Let's get the caravan loaded." He pushed his sister from his mind; he had to do what was best for the rebellion. No one else would be allowed to hold up the army for their personal search, so neither should he.

****

Katagai pulled down his binoculars when he saw the carriers leaving. He turned to a man that sat on his hover bike next to the immortal lord. Him, and everyone else in the strike force, were covered head to toe in wraps to protect them from the sun. Sun goggles covered the upper half of their faces.

"Follow them," he instructed the rider, "but make sure you aren't noticed. We will follow behind you." He turned back and spoke into the intercom. "We'll attack when they stop. So prepare yourselves."

Katagai had sent scouts out as a signal to the crime lord that he was waiting. Dune had managed to chase the army out of his territory, allowing Katagai complete freedom in attacking them. Katagai wouldn't have to worry about damaging the crime lord's city. After all, Katagai didn't want to alienate such a business man. He was fond of demons that turned on their own to make a few credits and rewarded them as much as possible. They helped keep the demon race from doing something dangerous like uniting. The rebellion was living proof of how dangerous that was. As long as everyone was in it for themselves the demons would always be trampled underneath the human boot. And as far as Katagai was concerned, that was how it should be.

****

Sesshomaru arrived in Hong Kong days later. The crashed vehicle had swung around a bit and his direction had been slightly off. Mercifully, he had hit the beach before too long and traveled east along it until the city had appeared. If he had been pointed in any other direction he wasn't sure he would ever have found the city. The desolate wind seemed to be stripped of all scents. He had spotted the ocean by reflected moonlight but, though the wind was coming from the sea, he couldn't smell the salty brine. That was something he had noticed while he was in Hong Kong. Dawn was approaching when he landed within the city.

The first thing he noticed was the missing carriers. The army had departed. There was no sign of battle, no scent of gunpowder or new craters, but that didn't reassure him. He was certain Dune would not want the army to be taken down within his city. They not being here most likely meant they had fallen into Dune's trap. Sesshomaru growled. His sniffed the air again. He needed to find Dune; he would pay for his treachery. He also needed to find Kira.

The sun broke the horizon and Sesshomaru gave a toothy grin. _Everyone will be inside and most likely sleeping now that day has broken. This will make searching for Dune easier. No one will even notice a giant white dog roaming the streets at this hour._ Dune struck him as someone who was incredibly arrogant. He was within his city and he had all the right connections. He didn't need to post any guards for who would be so foolish as to challenge him? Sesshomaru began strolling down the street sniffing every building for signs of the crime lord.

****

Kira was hand-cuffed to the bed again except she was face down this time. She had long since run out of tears to shed, she only felt empty. The bite wound on her shoulder continued to bleed. Every time Dune mounted her he sank his fangs into the same spot, disallowing it to heal. She watched the red stream pulse out of the torn flesh in time with her heartbeat. She longed for the wound to be more severe so that she could bleed to death. No other escape looked feasible to her.

Dune reentered the room, even though it was the middle of the day he was still awake. He walked up to the bed and sat down next to her. He reached over and tickled her bare back with his claws, she didn't even shiver. She was beyond caring. She hadn't felt this dead in many years. She had thought once she joined the rebellion she would never again know this feeling of hopelessness. Her brother had never promised this, though. She wondered at her foolish wish. All a human-weak demon was good for was to sell themselves to the higher powers. She was condemned to this hell from the moment she was born. Why shouldn't her brother have used her in this fashion? Everyone else did.

**BOOM!**

Kira blinked but didn't move. _What was that? _Dune didn't seem to notice as he continued caressing her back.

**BOOM!**

_There it is again. What is it?_ It didn't sound like an explosion; more like something heavy was landing on the ground.

**BOOM!**

Whatever it was, it was getting closer. Didn't Dune notice anything?

**BOOM!**

The bed shook this time and Dune finally lifted his head. "What da fuck is that?" he exclaimed. He rose from the bed as she turned her head to follow him. A shadow passed before the window just as Dune opened it.

Kira's eyes widened in horror as the red haired dog demon jumped back in surprise. "What da-?" A row of fangs, each the size of their heads, filled the entire view of the window. The lips pulled back even further and then the image dropped until a huge eye, blood red with turquoise iris entered the square. It rotated, pupil narrowing then widening as it focused on Dune. A growl caused the building to shiver then the eye pulled away.

**BOOM!**

The whole building shook again. Kira stared at the window as suddenly Dune yelled and leapt clear. A massive paw crashed through the opening, tearing out the wall and splintering the bed. The posts shattered and she was free, though the cuffs remained on her wrists. The paw retracted and she gazed out the giant hole that had been the wall. Her body froze with primal terror. She wanted to move, she wanted to run, she wanted to scream. All she could do was remain where she had fallen and stare out into the afternoon cityscape at the huge white dog.

Dune sat up and stared in disbelief at the creature of myths. The white dog barked, the building shook with the resonance of his voice. Voices and screams from other parts of the building echoed around them. The other residents had awakened to a nightmare. The dog came forward; his jaws parted revealing a gaping maul that could easily swallow them whole.

Kira finally found her voice and screamed as the huge canine tore the floor out from under them. She only fell a short distance, landing on the nose of the beast. Dune wasn't so lucky. He fell all the way to the ground, but being a demon with a higher number of demon genes he landed as lightly as if he jumped from a short distance.

Kira grabbed hold of the short fur as the dog backed away from the building. He then lowered his head until she could safely drop to the ground. She scrambled to get in his shadow, out of the dangerous rays of the sun. She then glanced across the street and saw a doorway there. She sprinted to the opening then turned to regard the scene. Dune was backed up to the wall which might as well been made of hot butter for all its ability to slow the dog's attacks.

The walls shred like paper as the great white dog swiped at Dune again. The red dog demon dodged the paw and the debris. The dog demon growled in frustration and raised its head. Then something peculiar happened. It glowed and its form collapsed in on itself. The form shrank until it was in the shape of a man then the glow stopped. Standing in the middle of the street was a perturbed Sesshomaru. Kira and Dune's jaws dropped simultaneously.

"How da hell did ya do that?" shouted Dune, recovering some of his bravado now that he wasn't facing down a couple hundred foot tall dog.

"If you were a true demon, you'd have that ability as well, but all the demons of this world have human blood coursing through their veins. So naturally it's impossible," replied Sesshomaru in a condescending tone.

Dune growled in rage. Damaging Dune's pride was the worst offense anyone could commit. "I'm a gonna string ya up for da scavengers," he declared. Sesshomaru smirked, which only made Dune even angrier.

The red dog demon charged. Sesshomaru raised his hand. Kira thought she saw his nails glowing, but wasn't sure in the bright daylight. He swung his hand and a yellow whip launched from his hand striking Dune in the chest and driving him back. Dune tumbled and hit the ruined wall. He sat up and stared down at his bleeding chest, dumbfounded. Kira didn't know Dune's story but she was certain that many decades had passed since the crime lord had been poor and weak like all demons. Not since before his rise to power would he have felt the sting of a whip on him. He looked back at Sesshomaru as he rose to his feet.

Sesshomaru raised his hand again and spoke one word. "Shi-ne." Then he was before Dune, the distance between covered within a single blink. Dune didn't even have time to express his shock before his head flew free from his shoulders. Blood sprayed into the air then the body toppled.

"Don't speak as if you and I are in the same class," said Sesshomaru to the body. He took a few steps away from the fallen crime lord then bent down and picked up a bed sheet that had floated down after he had wrecked the room. He turned and walked over to Kira and tossed the sheet at her. "Climb on," he said.

Kira looked at him quizzically for a moment. He simply transformed back into his dog form and lay down. Then his cryptic remark made sense as well as his handing her the bed sheet. He had successfully stifled her argument for traveling during the day. With the bed sheet she could cover herself while she rode his back. She didn't bother to ask where they were going. They had to catch up to the rebellion.

_I just wish I knew where they were heading. I'm too low in rank to be privy to all the rebellion's hideaways and I haven't been part of it long enough to have traveled to all of them,_ she thought with trepidation. She wrapped herself in the sheet and climbed onto the top of Sesshomaru's head. The giant white dog then trotted out of Hong Kong. Once clear of the buildings he did something else that wasn't expected, he took flight.

Sesshomaru's paws left the ground and they were soaring. Kira gasped in wonder. Then the dog demon stopped and looked around. They weren't that high off the ground yet and she wondered what he was looking for. Then she saw tread marks on the ground further north. Sesshomaru must have seen them too for he moved over to them and landed; bending down, while being mindful of her place, to examine them.

"The rebellion doesn't leave tracks. We purposely use hover carriers and arrange our formation to mask them," she said aloud. Sesshomaru growled then raised his head. He looked east then west. After several minutes he turned west and rose in the air. However, the tread marks remained below them. Kira wondered at his behavior but since she had no idea which way they should be going she kept quiet.

She was also very tired. Sesshomaru's run through the air was smooth, despite the great speed they were traveling. She pulled the sheet lower over her head and curled into a comfortable position. She was sound asleep within seconds.

****

Sesshomaru sensed when Kira fell asleep on his head. He hadn't slept since before he was captured but, unlike the demons of this era, Sesshomaru didn't need to sleep. At least not often. He only indulged in such activities when there wasn't anything to keep his attention and it was always light. Sleep was the most vulnerable time for a demon. Usually resting was all he required. However, he had been going at full power without rest of any kind. He knew he was pushing it, which was why he didn't drag out the fight with Dune. He would have enjoyed making the treacherous demon suffer but with the army already fallen into his trap Sesshomaru had neither the time nor the energy to waste on the petty demon.

The treads he was following didn't belong to the rebellion but he was certain they belonged to the army that Dune had sold the rebellion out to. Since he had come from the east he knew the army wasn't that way. He would have noticed a large convoy at the height he was traveling. So the only direction they could be headed was west. He only hoped he was able to catch up before things became tragic.

****

Kira awoke some time after midnight, the broken moon, on full display tonight, was low in the western sky before them. Sesshomaru had landed and was walking forward. She looked around. The ground was torn open and massive craters littered the area along with twisted hulks that used to be assault crafts and headless bodies of demons. The human bodies had been taken away along with the demon heads. It had been days since the fight, the bodies were rotting.

The trail went south as the craters grew further apart. The rebellion had run after being ambushed. They followed the morbid trail for hours. Dawn was breaking when they arrived at the ocean. The trail ended there.

"The hover carriers can travel underwater as well as fly across the land. They must have retreated beneath the waves to escape the army," said Kira. The tread marks belonged to vehicles unsuited for the task of a water pursuit. It was the only way the rebellion could escape annihilation. Sesshomaru growled, put a paw in the water then took it out and backed up a step. He growled again.

"Now how are we going to find them?" whispered Kira. The rebellion had survived Dune's betrayal but the trail was now ice cold.

****

Aetna, stared up at the surgeon's light and blinked wondering where she was. Then she sat up as she remembered all that had happened before she fell unconscious.

"Steady, bounty hunter," said a voice from the shadows.

"Who's there?" she called.

"You're lucky my men scout wide or we would have missed your wrecked vehicle. I say you must have had a bit of trouble with one of your bounties."

"Where's Edward?" she demanded. The last thing she remembered of her young mechanic was him leaning against the steering wheel unconscious after the crash landing.

"I'm afraid the boy was already dead when we arrived. A piece of shrapnel had pierced his skull."

Aetna stared, dumbfounded. _Why did I accept such a bounty? My greed must have overcome my judgment! I didn't have enough information on that damned bounty. He's dead because of me._ She raised her right hand to her face as grief and bitter regret flooded her then another memory floated to the surface. One that where her right arm was torn from its socket.

She pulled the hand back and stared at it. A black glove covered the hand and rose to her elbow where the shirt's sleeve started. She pushed up the sleeve revealing metal and wires. She stared in shock.

"You were barely alive yourself, so I took the liberty of arranging your treatment. Since your arm and right eye were lost we outfitted you with cybernetic replacements. It's the very best my people could create, the latest model in fact."

Aetna turned her gaze in the direction of the speaker. Not just anyone could afford to have missing limbs and organs replaced with cybernetic parts, much less the latest design. "Who are you?" she said slowly and with all the force she could muster. The speaker stepped into the light and she gasped.

"I hope you don't mind joining my services, Aetna Armstrong," said Katagai with an oily smile.

* * *

Thank you, Thoughts13!

When I refer to Kira being human it is either the character who is looking at her sees her as human because of her appearance or Kira is seeing herself as human-weak. Kira technically is a demon with a few demon traits that appear when riled as well as a long life span. More on that next chapter.

Kira looks human and is much weaker than the other demons. This comes from breeding hybrids together. When you cross Xx with Xx you have a 25% chance of getting xx, 25% chance of XX, and 50% of Xx. Of course that is just for one gene. The percentage is much smaller when you are dealing with the full DNA set that all living things possess. Though the possibility is remote there is still a chance of getting a near pure human from a pair of half-breed parents as well as a near pure demon. That's why Asamu and Kira are full-blooded siblings even though they look like they came from opposite sides of the gene pool. Hope I didn't lose you with this explanation.

Now I would like to know what "dues ex machina" means. Because I don't know if the story will head that way or not as long as I don't understand the term.

I made a reference to Kagura being killed by Naraku. I know in the Inuyasha: Final Act she died after Sesshomaru lost Tokijin, but in the manga she died before. So I decided to have a little "what if" scenario with "what if Tokijin didn't break when he was attacking the infant?" In order words, that is how, in this story at least, Naraku was defeated and why the Shikon jewel still exists. I might make a reference to that in the chapters to come.

"Kono Sesshomaru wa yowa_kunai_!" = "This Sesshomaru is _not_ weak!" or "I'm _not_ weak!"

"Shi-ne" = Die! (Reason for the hyphen: "Shi-ne" would appear as "Shine", didn't want there to be any confusion.)

The next chapter Kira and Sesshomaru are on their own and Kira has to explain to Sesshomaru how they are going to keep a low profile in Kairon, Katagai's country. She decides to tell him about herself from before she joined the rebellion to help him understand.


End file.
